Naruto 2: the rest of our lives
by Anniepopokios
Summary: Five years ago, the beloved Sasuke Uchiha turned his back on Konoha leaving friends battered and broken behind, holding a deadly secret he could not reveal. Orochimaru simply waited with open arms and the Uchiha arrived… Now...he's back !CHAPTER 27 IS UP!
1. The Hokage's apprentice

**Okay me and insanity rise have been working on this story for months, believe me it will be LONG and good. It's really hard for me to summarize though because its going to be so big so read this even if you don't like the summary. Just a little incite on what is going to happen: just about every character that most people like is in this story so its gotta something for everybody, but its mostly follows a certain group of which I can not tell because that would be telling you too much for now. I worked along time on this story and Insanity Rise and I think this would make a really good conclusion to the real anime. Its action packed and its taken us a long time to write so I really hope you like it. I'm gonna to post the first few chapters to see what you think, if people don't like it, we won't post any more chapters. Hope you enjoy it because I loved writing it soo much! I've put my all into this story and it was my first real fan fiction! **

**Full summary:**

**Five years ago, the beloved Sasuke Uchiha turned his back on Konoha leaving friends battered and broken, holding a deadly secret he could not reveal, guilt flooding him over. Orochimaru simply waited with open arms and the Uchiha arrived…**

**Now Sasuke's back, only to reveal a new plot that's not only to destroy Konoha but to destroy the villages surrounding it. Now he must band together with old friends and old enemies to defeat Orochimaru for good, but what kind of struggles and challenges will they encounter on the way?**

**Part 1: First target: Kage elimination **

**Chapter 1**

**The Hokage's apprentice **

The wind blew through the trees, leaves taking flight as it howled through the forest. Through his dark forest, there was a road and on that road, a girl stood. She shivered from the cold as the wind blew her pink hair in her face, she didn't even push it away, she only stared down at the dusty path under her feet, tears streaming from her cheeks.

Rain was beginning to pour down as the temperature continued to lower while her heart only beat faster. She looked up and stared at the figure in front of her in disbelief. He only gave her a half-hearted smile. It was late and no one else was out in this kind of weather.

The girl knew that she was going to catch sick in this weather, but she ignored that. The town lights still shined, it was her only light in the darkness.

"Sakura," the boy said coldly, "I can't go back, not after what's happened."

She closed her eyes, she couldn't stand this, so badly had she wanted to just run to him and beg him to stay but some how she knew his mind was made up. This wasn't one of those times when a simple joke would make everyone smile, her only true friend was about to leave her alone for the rest of her life, and that was something she just couldn't endure.

"Sasuke! You can't leave us! What will Kakashi say? What will they think?"

She hardly managed to choke out the words through her tears. Sasuke only sighed as the rain washed the blood off his face.

"Sakura there's something I've always wanted to tell you."

"Yes Sasuke?"

She had a good idea of what he might tell her. All her life she'd been chasing after him and in the past it had seemed like fate was on her side, until today.

"Sakura," he turned his back so that he couldn't look into her eyes. Sakura's heart skipped a beat, if only he could say he loved her that would be enough, he could leave then, but only if those words left his mouth.

"All those years when you and Ino used to fight over me, all those days you'd be so nice and hide your true self hoping to impress me, well I've got to tell you why I never said anything, it's because….I don't love you."

He said coldly as he stepped forward, starting off down the path. Sakura's heart was broken, she fell to her knees and let the rain wash away her tears, but they kept falling. She couldn't believe the words, they hurt worse than any weapon. All her life she'd wanted nothing more than to hear the words "I love you" from Sasuke Uchiha and now, she'd never hear them.

"Sasuke, don't go," she reached out to him as he drifted into the darkness, "SASUKE!"

Sakura woke up drenched in perspiration. She quickly sat up and looked around; wondering if that had all been a dream. A sigh slipped from her lips as she realized that she was still in her small home. She'd been having that dream a lot lately. She could never forget that cold night when her one true love broke her heart and disappeared forever without another word. She could remember Kakashi and a few of the other Sensei's going out and looking for him, but he'd never been found. It was 5 years past that very day and by now, everyone suspected that Sasuke was good and dead. Sakura sighed, it was funny, she'd started having two great friends and one had died while the other, was dead to her now. Though she could never truly forget him, she pushed the images of Sasuke to the back of her head.

He'd been her teammate and she thought he was her friend, but that one night had changed all of her beliefs. At first it hadn't be easy, living alone without anyone to go too when she needed to talk, then she'd went to the Hokage, Tsunade, for help. Tsunade was the 5th Hokage of the Hidden leaf village and not getting a day younger, she was already 62 and going on 63 in less than a month.

Sakura had been her apprentice for four years, meaning Tsunade had taught her all of her amazing healing abilities and she would be the next Hokage when Tsunade passed away, but Sakura prayed that would never happen, because secretly, she didn't want to be Hokage. The Hokage was the supreme ruler of the hidden leaf village; Sakura didn't want that much responsibility in her hands.

She yawned as she pulled her soft covers away from her and walked up to her mirror to get ready for work. She helped Tsunade at the leaf village hospital though she had trained to be a ninja it had never been for her. Every once and awhile though, she was sent on a few missions.

"I'm so thin and pale."

She sighed with dread at her boned face small figure. She wasn't that bad but a few makeup did wonders, without it, she didn't feel right. Ever since the day Sasuke left, she'd been in a sort of depression mode, she'd lost a lot of weight from that time and though she tended to smile from time to time, she'd never been really happy. Every day she thought up his last words and found herself close to tears, truth was, she still loved him.

She sighed as she changed into her pretty red and white outfit, feeling more dreary than usual. Lately she hadn't been getting much sleep and the bags under her eyes told all. She couldn't stop thinking about her past, and it was ruining her future.

Quickly, she ran a brush through her long pink hair and headed out the door to the hospital. Ever since that night when Sasuke left she'd began to grow out her hair again, having it short reminded her too much of her past. It was funny how every day she'd find herself wondering if Sasuke would like the way she looked and then she'd sigh and remember that he would never see her. Most people suspected that he was dead. The streets of the village were a bustle with life and smiling faces. Sakura didn't feel right among such people.

The sun shone brightly and everyone seemed so happy, everyone except Sakura. She took the normal route to the hospital but she stopped in her tracks remembering that she had today off because Tsunade doctors from the hidden waves village inspecting the hospital. Now she had nothing to do for the rest of the day. She sighed.

"Might as well go see Kakashi."

Lately she'd been visiting the Sensei quiet often, feeling as if he was the only one who understood how hurting she was about her past. She strolled down to the huge building where the Hokage was normally, but since Tsunade was out today, Iruka had been put in charge, Maybe she could find a mission to do, something that would take her mind off the past.

"Good morning Kakashi."

She smiled at the silver haired man as she entered the top floor of the huge building. Kakashi was sitting next to Iruka, who was sitting in the Hokage's chair. They smiled at her as she entered.

"And what brings you here today Sakura?"

Iruka asked as he turned to the pink haired girl, but his smile looked fake; she could tell that something was wrong.

"I was hoping for a mission to complete, is something wrong?"

Kakashi had the same look on his face.

"It's nothing really, just some troubles with the sand village, that's all."

Sakura could see right through Kakashi, she knew him far too well.

"What's really going on?"

She asked anxiously.

"There's been an attack," Kakashi's face grew dark; "someone tried to kill the Kazekage and destroyed half of the town. No one knows what really happened and we don't have a ninja to send down there do to the visiting with the people from the hidden waves village, we have all of our important ninja guarding the premises. We still don't fully trust them."

"I could go!"  
Sakura could hardly see how someone could even think of taking on Gaara, the Kazekage of the sand village. He was far beyond any normal ninja or kage for that matter.

"Sakura though you are an A-rank, you haven't been out on a real mission since, since…Sasuke left."

"That was the only mission I failed."

Sakura sighed under her breath.

"I guess we could send you. We've needed to send some up there anyway; it's been a long time since we've paid a visit to their cold Kazekage."

Sakura shivered at the memories of Gaara and his evil older siblings.

"I could leave in the morning if you wanted me too but how long do I stay?"

"As long as it takes to figure out who is behind these assignation attempts, don't interfere though. Knowing Gaara he won't want you get involved. It's settled then, you leave in the morning. And Sakura be careful."

Iruka nodded.

"Now I must excuse myself."

With those words the Chuunin left the room quickly, Sakura turned to leave but was stopped by Kakashi's voice.

"Sakura I know what you're thinking, no one would be crazy enough to go up against Gaara, unless they were…well just get this straight Sasuke Uchiha died five years ago. I don't want you out on a wild goose chase thinking he's still alive, your mission is to help the Kazekage, not go chasing after needles in haystacks, is that clear."

Sakura nodded in approval and left. Her heart felt light as a feather, finally she was getting to go on another A-rank mission. Her last one had been simply to bring Sasuke back alive, but she'd failed at that, it was nice to know she'd been given a second chance. She couldn't wait to get going, even if it meant sucking up to cold Gaara.

---

Hope you liked it, please review so I can know what you think!


	2. Friends or enemies?

**Alright here's the second part, sorry these things are soo long! And just to tell you, in the first chapter when Sasuke told Sakura he didn't love her…he was lying! Ha! So don't hate me for that okay, I do support Sasuke and Sakura as a couple. Please review…**

**Chapter two **

**Friends or enemies?**

In the dark room of the Kazekage, Gaara sat quietly. He stared into the empty darkness with a lustful look in his eyes. This was the way the Kazekage's house always was. So full of silence and darkness, he loved every second of it. Finally, he was in control and he could order around the people that stepped on him when he was little.

"Gaara, the leaf village ninja is here!"

His sister called as she burst through the two huge doors that led into the Kazekage's room. She had blonde hair and tight black apparel.

"I introduce you to Gaara, our Kazekage."

Temari said with distaste as she pointed to her redheaded brother. He only stared into nothing as though she wasn't even there.

"Oh Sakura, I haven't seen you in years."

Temari smiled cruelly as she left the room. Sakura couldn't help but hate her. The way she pranced around as if she was the Kazekage, though she never would be. Temari was so full of herself though she was pretty. Sakura turned to Gaara, who was sitting in a rather large looking chair at the edge of the room. He gave her an annoyed stare. She couldn't help but despise his dark green eyes, they seemed to stare into her and see her very soul almost as if he could read her thoughts.

"You have come for information on what happened yesterday, am I right?"

"Yes, the Hoka—"  
"I don't need your explanations," he said coolly, " what happened was simple, a foul tried to take my life and failed."

He sighed and rested his chin in his hands giving Sakura a wicked grin.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I say this so plainly. It's quite simple, no foul could ever take my life no matter how down my guard was. I will die when I see it fighting and no scum may decide my fate."

Sakura couldn't help but admire his courage though he was too arrogant to see past his on judgment. As the Kazekage, he could order anyone to do anything and they would obey but as Temari had told her earlier, Gaara didn't take much mind to being Kazekage.

"He'd never wanted to be our stupid father's successor."

She'd told her as she'd led her here.

"I suspect that whoever is trying to do anyway with me will try it again, but they will fail and this time, I won't let the coward run."

"Gaara-sama," Sakura hated having to address him as sama but it would be dishonorable not to so she had to," do you remember what your attacker looked like or did you even see him or her?"

"Does that matter?"

Gaara seemed almost impatient as though he wanted to end this conversation now.

"Well I we can find out who they are it might better explain why they trying to kill you."

"I'm the Kazekage; why else would a person want to strike me down?"

Sakura badly wanted to knock the smug grin right of Gaara's face. She hated the cold look that loomed on his face and the dark liner around his eyes only made her feel more uneasy, remembering the deadly Shukaku that still plagued his mind. Gaara sighed.

"You are but a mere ninja, you wouldn't understand things if I told you. Search if you must but I assure you, if someone tries to take my life again it will be their life that will be lost."

Sakura took that as a "leave now" so she did just that. Outside Temari was leaning against the door, she'd been listening in on their conversation.

"That's how Gaara's been for years, he doesn't let anybody else in on his life except his self. It's so dull having a younger brother more powerful than you could ever expect to be. Therefore, I guess I'll take you to your room since I'm sure you'll be staying with use for a few days. It's getting late and the heat does rise when the sun goes down."

Temari sighed as she led Sakura back down the hallway, but she suddenly stopped as a huge crashing noise came from the Kazekage's room.

"GAARA!"

She screamed and took off back in the direction they'd come in with Sakura at her heels, they both knew what was happening.

"I knew this was going to happen again!"

Temari cried as she pushed open the doors that led to the Kazekage's room and burst into the dark place.

"Gaara!"  
She called out, fearing for her brother's safety. Her eyes grew wide as she noticed a huge whole in the wall.

"Gaara!"  
The two ran to the huge broken wall and peered out side. Blood was splattered all over the ground. Sakura dashed into the darkness. If she failed this mission Kakashi and Iruka would never forgive her, she had to protect Gaara!

Outside it was already dark and Sakura had a hard time seeing what was going on. Sand had been kicked up everywhere but she managed to spot the Kazekage. Gaara was on his knees, clutching his bleeding shoulder with his left hand as he trembled with pain. A dark figure stood over him, Sakura could see an ugly grin on his face.

"So this is the power of the Kazekage, I expected better out of you Gaara."

The cold voice seemed familiar somehow but Sakura couldn't remember. Gaara had obviously been caught off guard or else he never would have been wounded.

"Gaara?"

Temari cried as she noticed the state of her brother. Gaara stared up at his attacker with hate.

"I'll kill you where you stand!"

He mocked but instead he was kicked in the face before his sand walls could protect him.

"Get back!"

Sakura ordered Temari as she pulled a few shurikans out of her pocket and prepared to hit the stranger.

She threw the weapons through the air so quickly that no normal person would have been able to dodge them but instead of dodging the figure simply caught them with his fingers as Kakashi had once when they were training years ago.

He smirked as he raised the weapon to strike the trembling Kazekage.

"NO!"

Sakura screamed and lunged at him, knocking the cloaked figure to the ground. However, Gaara would have been able to protect himself with his sand walls, but Sakura wasn't thinking straight, the only thing she could think about was how failing was not an option. She and the attacker fell to the ground. Sakura screamed as the cloaked stranger rolled her over on her back and placed a shurikans directly below her neck.

"Don't interfere."

He said coldly, but Sakura no longer felt fear, that voice seemed so familiar that she knew her mind wasn't playing tricks on her.

She stared up at the dark figure searching her head for who this could be; her heart skipped a beat.

"Sa…Sasuke…?"

She was practically pleading. The figure automatically dropped the weapon and jumped to his feet. He took off into the darkness but a wall of sand suddenly arose from the ground, blocking his path.

The stranger turned to Sakura and sighed, lifting his hood and revealing whom he really was. Sakura gasped. She couldn't believe it. In front of her stood the very person she'd been searching for all these years, it was Sasuke! She wanted to run to him and hug him, but the dark look on is face held her back. It was the same cold glare that had belonged too Itachi and Orochimaru, what had happened to him? His face was scarred and his eyes looked empty and dead.

"Sasuke?"

She had to say it again; she just couldn't believe this.

"I told you not to interfere."

He said coldly, his voice full of spite and hate, he didn't sound at all like the Sasuke she used to know.

"What happened to you?"

"What are you doing here!"  
He demanded. Temari ran to her wounded brother and helped him to his feet.

"I came to speak with the Kazekage, and you?"

Sakura returned his cold glare. Why was he treating her like his enemy, weren't they still friends?

"You're a fool."

His words hurt worse than knives.

"Aren't we still friends?"  
Sakura pleaded.

"You don't fight for me meaning you are my enemy, enemies can't be friends, and who would want to be friends with and arrogant little girl?" He sneered.

How could he say that, why did he always want to pick on her? Sakura felt tears in her eyes.

"How could you say that? Have you forgotten everything!"

"You still talk like a child."

Sasuke spat cruelly. Sakura fell to her knees, she'd never imagined things to turn out this way, and how could he treat her with so much hate? This was so much like that day when she hadn't been able to get him to come back to the village. It didn't make sense, how could this dark, muscular figure be her long lost friend?

"DIE!"

He yelled and charged at her, Sakura closed her eyes to receive a blow but he had only been acting. Instead of hitting her he jumped up and landed On top of the roof of the building, disappearing into the darkness.

Sasuke limped into the huge building that belonged to the Akatsuki. Inside it was cold and dark; he was used to it. This was terrible, all because Sakura had shown up everything had went wrong and now he was going to pay for his failed mission, twice now he had failed to eliminate Gaara. He knew that Orochimaru would not only be disappointed in him, but he would be mad, very mad. He brushed his black hair out of his face as he pushed the two huge doors that lead to Orochimaru's testing room.

The evil Orochimaru had always been testing the limits of creatures, finding their weaknesses and if you failed to complete a task you were given you'd become his next test subject. Sasuke shivered at the thought of what Orochimaru had done to his last victims, things impossible to explain but only placed in one category, pain.

"Sasuke!"

A voice snapped from the darkness, Sasuke flinched at his sharp voice. He turned to face his master though he had hoped he wouldn't have noticed him.

"Where is the Kazekage?"

"I…I-"

"SPIT IT OUT!"

Orochimaru ordered impatiently. Sasuke hated this.

"I couldn't kill him, I caught him off guard and wounded him but there were others there. I had to leave before they figured out the plot."

"YOU HAVE FAILED ME AGAIN!"

Orochimaru yelled with rage and punched Sasuke right in the face causing him to fall to his knees. The displeased man only chuckled.

"All these years and you can't complete one simple task. Oh well I'll get Itachi to take care of it though I would have expected better."

"Please Sir I onl-"

Orochimaru punched him again.

"We of the Akatsuki are not beggars remember that next time you decided to use such language."

Sasuke only stared at the ground in pain.

"Itachi!"

Orochimaru ordered, as if on queue, Sasuke's brother walked into the dark room with an arrogant look on his face. His red eyes glowed in the darkness.

"What is it this time?"

He yawned and gave his brother a cruel smile always finding a way to find a enjoyment in the pain of others.

"I need you to go do away with the Kazekage since your brother here can't seem to complete the simplest of tasks."

"Is that so?"

Itachi smirked vilely realizing the crushed look on his younger brother's face.


	3. Pity is for the weak

**Okay I'm just gonna keep posting this even though so far I have received no reviews( come on people!) Hope you like this chapter. The beginning was kindof slow and I'm sorry for that but believe me it gets much better! And people are probably wondering where the heck Naruto is, but that will be explained later on so I can't say anything else.**

**Chapter three**

**Pity is for the weak**

"What happened yesterday has shaken up the entire town."

Temari told Sakura as she poured a cup of coffee. Sakura nodded. Everyone seemed to be worried that Gaara wouldn't be the only one targeted.

"Gaara doesn't need their pity though."  
Kankurou was leaning against the wall of Temari's small kitchen. He was Gaara's brother so he knew all about the power of his younger brother.

Temari smiled.

"That's what he told the others when they suggested body guards, Gaara can take of himself he doesn't need us looking after him anymore then again he never really needed us did he?"

"Nope."

Temari took a sip of her coffee and sat down in a chair next to the small table.

"So Sakura, you leaving today or staying here?"

Sakura had been searching for that answer in herself but she still wasn't sure what the wisest decision would be. Kakashi had told her that her mission had nothing to do with Sasuke and the truth was that if he attacked again she'd hesitate on hurting him and he'd come at her full on. That made her feel sick. She couldn't get his words out of her head, she wondered if he really though of her as his enemy now. She knew that chasing Sasuke was like chasing a fairy-tale, she'd never be able to grasp him in her hands for real it would always be a dream.

"I think I'll stay for another day or two just to figure out exactly what's wrong."

"Seems to me as though somebody wants Gaara dead, but whom and why? No one would attack Gaara unless they were a hired man, so who's hiring them?"  
Sakura pondered over the question Kankurou had just asked, he only gave her a smirk.

"You shouldn't worry yourself with all this you are the Hokage's apprentice are you not? They might be after you too."

Sakura sighed; he had a point.

"True Kankurou."

Temari grinned.

"Why aren't you guys watching Gaara?"

"Like I said, he doesn't need body guards. If we tried to guard him he'd get mad cause that would mean we thought he was too weak to defend himself, we don't want to make him mad."

Kankurou said smartly as he ran is hand through his scruffy brown hair.   
"Besides, no hired man could ever kill Gaara."

Temari sneered. They all knew she was right.

Itachi smirked vilely as he snuck through the sand village, lost from sight in the shadows. This was too easy, everyone was so shook up from last night that no one noticed as a cloaked figure reached the Kazekage's headquarters and slipped in through the front doors. He chuckled to himself dreaming of the look on Gaara's face when he would soon fall to the ground, dead. He had great confidence that he would be able to take Gaara down in no time though he was forced to use hand-to-hand combat due to the fact that his fire would prove nothing against Gaara's sand walls, but he could improvise.

He still had the poison tipped Kunai knives Orochimaru had given him and though he hated to have to kill his opponent so dishonorably, whatever worked, worked. Not a sound was made as he sulked into the shadows, moving gingerly through the darkness knowing that one wrong move could lead to death. It was stupid how he'd been given his brothers task, and in a twisted cruel way, it was funny.

Sasuke had always wanted to be equal to him every since he joined the Akatsuki, and he'd never even came close to catching up. He'd have the face the music someday, he'd always be living in some one's shadow and that some one was Itachi. He would never forget the look of dread on his brother's face when Orochimaru had told him to complete the mission in Sasuke's face. Oh, how he'd enjoyed the Akatsuki ever since his younger brother joined, it really was funny.

He easily made his way down the empty hall walls, creeping through the shadows as the sun was beginning to go down. He had to kill Gaara swift and fast so no one would figure out what was going on and come to his rescue. Sasuke had been too slow to perform a real assassination, while his brother on the other hand, had had years and years of practice, since he was 12. He was one of those people who took pride in killing and though that didn't mean he didn't own a conscience, it only meant he couldn't hear his. Sure, from time to time Itachi felt really guilty, but guilt was weak and he would do anything to not be a weak fool like his brother.

Sasuke was still too soft to understand how it really felt to kill someone and enjoy doing it, but with time, he'd eventually learn that that was what was expected of you at the Akatsuki. You had to have a keen sense of discipline and a strong taste for blood that was about it though. Even those who were weak could be excepted if they wanted power enough; of course, this was always tested. Itachi had had to do away with his entire clan just to prove that he was strong enough to be someone and though some of he hits he threw hurt him more than his deepest wounds, he'd done it and came out on top. However, his moron brother hadn't had that test, the farthest he'd ever had to a real test was killing Naruto, and that was something he only helped in doing. Itachi was the one who drew the last blow and Sasuke was the one that could only watch fighting back tears.

"Weak."

Itachi had scoffed but something in his brother's eyes had held him back, something that almost made him feel sorry for doing it. No matter how far he went or what he did, they were still family and sometimes that was hard to look past. So in the very beginning as a mere child he'd turned his sorrow into hate and proved to all who mocked him once before that he wasn't to be mocked again, they could see it clearly before they died. He shook his head, he was letting down his guard and often that led to a swift death. It was getting late, now was the time to strike…

Gaara sat on his throne quietly thinking to himself or at least that's what it looked like. He knew that this assassin wouldn't stop until he was dead so he was alert and ready for an attack. He almost found it enjoying and at the same time chilling. It had been years since someone tried to steal his life and he wasn't going to let the fool get away this time. If is attacker really was Sasuke as Sakura had guessed than this would be fun. Sasuke would be a formidable opponent and he might even be a challenge either way it was, Gaara would come out on top but he had no idea what was really coming for him.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, his head throbbing with pain and his whole body feeling weak and tired. Though he never slept, he did eat and that was something he hadn't done for a while considering the possibility of poisoning though Gaara didn't suspect that his attacker would be so stupid as to kill him that easily. From what had happened last night he'd learned a few things. Whomever this person was they had a strong grudge he knew this because of the way the attacker kept slashing at him until they were out of stamina. Gaara felt his stomach begging for food but he didn't want to eat.

It wasn't that he feared death it was just that death by poison was the lowest you could get and he didn't want something so simple on his record. He wanted to go up in flames with sparks and flares in all. His eyes darted into the shadows.

"Who's there?"

His ears weren't fooling him; he'd heard something. It sounded like a soft rustling noise but it made his heart skip a beat.

"Why don't you face me? Are you too cowardly…Sasuke?"

He'd decided to believe Sakura; maybe this was Sasuke, which would explain the grudge. However, what was in store for him was much worse than Sasuke. A figure stepped out of the darkness, cackling wickedly. He was wearing a cloak just as Sasuke had last night.

An evil grin curled on his lips.

"Sasuke eh? I am not Sasuke for I…," He tore off his cloak revealing his rough figure and red eyes filled with blood lust," for I am 10 times worse than my half wit brother. For I, Uchiha Itachi, will bring you down Kazekage."

Gaara was completely speechless, just the very look in this man's eyes held power and evil, it was easy to tell that this wasn't going to be as enjoying as he'd expected.

"Wondering why I've told you my name eh? Because when you die, you'll have no one to tell but your comrades in happy and I don't fear dead men."

"You speak confidently when the battle has not yet begun."

"It's only going to last but a minute then your blood shall stain the ground!"

Itachi smirked evilly as he drew out three of the Kunai knives he'd been keeping just in case.

"I suggest you defend yourself now."

He laughed sending chills down Gaara's spine. He'd never met this man in his entire life and knew how he fought, how could this be? A huge wall of sand immediately jutted out of the ground, protecting it's master. Gaara still had the upper hand; an endless supply of sand around him would prove to his advantage.

The calm look on Itachi's face did not fade, he knew that he could easily rip through the walls, with the strength he possessed nothing was beyond him. He lunged at Gaara swiftly, flying through the air and slamming into his wall of sand with so much force that it shattered. The sand blew everywhere as Gaara's defense crumbled and Itachi sliced his weapon across Gaara's face. Blood bubbled from the wound as Gaara fell to the ground. Itachi had nearly destroyed him in one swift move and now the poison was in, his first objective had already been completed.

"Too easy."

"REALLY!"

Gaara screamed with rage as splinters of sand flew at Itachi from all sides, but he only knocked him out of his way with his thin knife as if this was all a game.

"You remind me of my brother, weak."

He smirked as he charged at Gaara again. Gaara looked around quickly, trying his best to dodge the blow but he'd never fought some one so quick on their feet. Itachi's second knife slashed his shoulder and then slammed into the floor, cutting through the marble. Gaara only stared in awe at his amazing strength. He shook his head remembering this man was his enemy and no level of respect would save him. It was clear that he and Itachi were equally matched. The sand needles sliced through the air again but this time Gaara was quicker, Itachi hadn't been expecting him to fight directly after taking a blow and he was caught off guard.

The needles sliced across his shoulders and chest. He gritted his teeth with pain and turned back to Gaara, ignoring the pain that screamed at him to stop. He had felt worse pain than this, he could survive, but Gaara on the other hand was getting the worst. He fell to his knees, the poison quickly spreading through his body. Sweat dripped from his forehead and down his hair as he fought the burning pain inside him.

"The poison works rather fast."

Itachi laughed. He turned to leave but was stopped by a familiar voice. A Kunai knife whirled past him and sliced into the wall in front of him, barely missing his right ear.

"Always off by an inch, eh?"

He chuckled, he knew who it was, easy as it was too tell his attacker he still felt like humoring him. He turned around and smirked evilly.

"So Sasuke, what's brings you here? Shopping for Orochimaru maybe?"

He chuckled at his on cruel joke, ignoring the angry look on his younger brother's face, Gaara only wheezed from pain.

Sasuke glared his brother with his dark red eyes, but the man didn't look at all threatened in fact he looked as though he'd heard a bad joke.

"Itachi let's just finish this right here right now, winner takes Gaara to Orochimaru, loser dies."

Gaara hated this, either way he was going to lose.

"Haha, alright alright I'll humor you…even if we were to fight why here? Why now? The guards are surely rushing this way to come swiftly save their master besides we know who would win."

"You only say that cause you're a coward!"

Sasuke growled.

"No dear brother," Itachi sighed, " you understand nothing, and a person who understands nothing can never amount to anything but an empty shell without a soul purpose or life to call their own. People like you think they can get power just by completing a mission or learning a new trick, it's not that simple."

His voice grew cold.

"To gain something you have to give up something else, to gain power you must first feel pain. To grow stronger you must first know how it feels to be weaker. To live fully, you must first, cause death. You have seen and done now of these things, pain, death, life, light, darkness, loss, gain, you don't know what they mean, to you they are just words."

"Don't sit here and lecture me! Only my real brother could lecture me to a point where I'd actually gain anything and you gave that up years ago. So don't lecture me, don't sit there telling me what I lack, I'll show you in the fight!"

He felt tears in his eyes, remembering his painful childhood. Itachi only turned his back.

"DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME!"

Sasuke ordered, clenching his hand in to a fist threateningly.

"Until you understand those words, until you grow up, I will not fight you. Until you learn how to truly fight, I cannot and will not have anything to do with you nor will I look in your conceited eyes and smile, I pity you brother, I pity those who are weak, and I pity you."


	4. Traitor

**Here's chapter four! Hope you like it! This is where the story starts to pick up beat and things begin to slowly get less and less boring!**

**Chapter four**

**A traitor**

"His fever's finally started to go down."

Temari sighed as she draped a damp cloth on her brother's forehead. Gaara only let out a whimper as pain struck him from all sides. The poison was kicking and it wouldn't be long before it killed him. Temari had been doing her best to help Sakura as she tended to his wounds and tried to find a cure. However, the poison she'd found on the Kunai knife left behind by Itachi was unlike any she'd ever seen before. It had had a strange black hint to it, almost as though it was more evil than the rest. Gaara had been slipping away and near the gates of death as Temari and Sakura did all they could.

"Well I don't know what to do, he'll die if we don't get a cure and it's not like we can just go begging to Orochimaru."

"Why him?"

Temari gave her a perplexed glare.

"He created the poison didn't he? That means he knows where the cure is, come on Sakura you're a ninja aren't you. You goda think the ninja way."

"I might know someone who could help us. Temari I'm going back to the leaf village," Sakura sighed, she had a plan, "I'll be back in a day or so with the cure or at least information on where it is."

Temari chuckled as she stared at her sleeping brother.

"Get back before he dies, no use knowing the cure if he's already dead."

She sighed, hoping that Sakura really was coming back and this wasn't a trap. However, to ninja's lying was unacceptable and besides, a person like Sakura would never be a good liar.

Sakura ran through the front gates leading into the humble leaf village. She was happy to be back home but she had to go tell Kakashi of what had happened to Gaara, hopefully he had an answer to the cure, if not then Gaara would probably die and she didn't think Kankurou was cut out to be a Kazekage. The sun shone brightly and it was a beautiful day but Sakura didn't have time to admire the scenery. She dashed down the dusty streets heading straight for the Hokage's headquarters. She suspected that Kakashi would be there. By the time she reached the guarded front doors she was completely out of breath.

It seemed someone had beat her too it though. Someone was fighting with the guards about how they wouldn't let him in because they didn't believe he was who he said he was.

"I've got to speak with Hatake Kakashi, let me in!"

He demanded, trying to push past the guards but they pushed him to the ground.

"Get out of here you brat."

They said cruelly. Sakura leaned against the wall she'd fallen against, listening to the conversation with great curiosity.

"You don't even look like Uchiha Sasuke, next time you want to fake an appearance you should try one more fitting."

They laughed; Sakura's eyes grew wide as she swung around to see whom the guards were turning down. She had half-expected to see a pretender in front of her but it was the same man she'd seen a few nights before. He looked up at her with mean eyes as though she was nothing more than dirt.

"Excuse me sir, but he's with me."

"Oh," the guards said suddenly feeling very embarrassed, "go right ahead Sakura-san."

They stepped out of the way of the gates and Sakura made her way inside. She turned to Sasuke.

"Coming?"

He sighed, dusted the dirt off his clothes and followed her inside. Sakura knew that if he was so desperate to come back to leaf village that whatever he had to deliver had to be important.

"Why are you here?"

She asked calmly.

"Why are YOU here?"

He scowled.

"I am the Hokage's apprentice meaning I come here quite often to check up with my teacher and such things like that. You're turn now."

Sasuke hesitated to tell her wondering what she'd say. He hated the smile on her cheery face that was one of the things he's never liked about her. Sakura had never taken anything seriously while he had taken everything SERIOUSLY. She smiled as they trekked down the empty halls. Sasuke felt uneasy in a place he remembered so much, it reminded him too much of the past.

"I have to speak with Kakashi-Sensei and not you."

"If I were you I'd be thanking me for letting me in."

Sakura couldn't believe his nerve.

"Thank you."

He scoffed cruelly. It was obvious that Sakura was getting annoyed. She'd never guessed he would turn out so conceited.

"If you're thinking I came back for you than I should slap you."

They reached the doors to the Hokage's office. Sakura was about to open the door but Sasuke jumped in front of her and kicked it open with so much force that everyone in the next room jumped up with surprise. He stormed into the room.

"I need to talk to Hatake Kakashi."

Everyone only stared at the stranger in front of them. No one could believe who was standing in the middle of the room, not even Tsunade said a word. He clenched his hand into a fist out of rage; he didn't have time for this.

"NOW!"

He ordered in a rough voice. The silver haired man stood up and sighed.

"What do you want? What's your name?"

Sasuke gritted his teeth, he wasn't going to say anything to these people he didn't want anyone to treat him as Sakura had. He wasn't happy to have to come to them and he didn't want them to be happy that he was here.

"I just need to talk with Hatake Kakashi."

He lowered his tone a bit to show that he was getting tired of it. He'd given up being mean.

"Fine, but Sakura comes too."

Kakashi said fearing for his own safety. He wasn't sure who exactly this person was or why they wanted to talk with him so badly that, they would intrude on one of the Hokage's meetings.

"So who are you and what do you want?"

Kakashi sighed, leaning against the wall out side the Hokage's office where he'd decided to talk with the stranger.

"Sakura knows."

He spat cruelly, Sakura only shivered.

"Kakashi that's…Sasuke."

She said with sadness. Kakashi's eyes grew wide.

"Impossible, you died years ago."

"Oh who told you that crap, I didn't die I just left. They're too different things you know."

Sasuke said harshly. It was clear that he wasn't the quiet person they'd remembered. Kakashi was in awe, he had never suspected that Sasuke was still alive, it was almost like seeing a ghost.

"Listen I don't have time to sit here and chat like old friends, I have to get back to the Akatsuki before anyone notices that I'm gone."

"Then what did you come to tell us that's so important?"

Kakashi was curious to what he had to say.

"I'm sure news of the Kazekage's attempted assassinations have already reached here. I wonder if anyone knows why? Well I do and I'm here to tell you why. Orochimaru is planning to destroy all 5 of the Kage's he's going to kill all of them in order to establish a new government with him as the supreme ruler. After that Kage's are dead, they people will go into a panic and the entire government will come crashing down. That's his plan. A new government to rise out of the ashes."

Kakashi and Sakura were speechless. How could they have no realized it? It made sense though and the entire plan was truly genius.

"But how does he plan to do away with the kages and why are you telling us this?"

"Simple, he's using Itachi and a few others to kill um when it's least expected. Gaara's assassination didn't turn out too well."

He hadn't answered the second question.

"And how can we be sure that you're telling the truth?"

"You can believe me or not, but I'd highly advise you take my advice, be ready for an attack. Now I must be leaving."

He turned to walk away but Sakura grabbed his shirtsleeve.

"Please stay here Sasuke, we've missed you so much and now everyone will know that you aren't dead, it will mean so much to them."

He turned to her with sad eyes, as though he really wanted to come back but couldn't. Truly part of his heart longed to go home but part of him wanted to stay with the Akatsuki. Orochimaru would try to kill him if he became a traitor and if he came back here, he'd have to tell everyone exactly who really killed their beloved Naruto.

That was a crime he just couldn't admit to, he knew they'd hate him forever if they learned the truth.

"Sakura, I can't stay, stop begging me. I don't belong here, I never did. Now please let go of my shirt before I have to remove you myself."

She gasped in disbelief and let him go. How could he just want to leave it all behind so easily? Did he even care for his friends or family?

She felt tears in her eyes. Kakashi put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry Sakura, he'll be back, I know he will."

"Where have you been all day!"

Orochimaru demanded an answer as Sasuke slipped in through the door, drenched in rainwater from the pouring heavens. He hadn't expected it to rain; it had slowed him up and now he'd come back far too late. For once, he actually felt afraid. Orochimaru would skin him alive if he told him where'd he'd really been. He hadn't expected him to wonder so much.

"I…I," he searched his head frantically for some kind of explanation," I went to the sand village to go see if the Kazekage had died of the poison that was all."

The angry look in Orochimaru's dark eyes did not fade; he knew he was lying. Sasuke sighed knowing that his excuse had not been very convincing. Orochimaru smiled vilely sensing his fear.

"You really expect me to believe that? WHERE HAVE YOU REALLY BEEN!"

Sasuke was silent, scared by his yelling. He couldn't tell him, that was asking for death. He was a traitor now and Orochimaru wasn't going to stop unless he got the answer he wanted.

"Fine, let's just ask Itachi then shall we?"

Sasuke's eyes grew wide. He knew that Itachi had seen him leave in the direction on the leaf village. He also knew that his own brother would turn him in even if he received nothing in return. Itachi stepped into the room with an annoyed look on his face.

"What do you need?"

He spat.

"Itachi, it seems your little brother here went out for a stroll could you please tell me where he went if you know any information on the matter."

A wicked smile curled on Itachi's lips as he caught his brother's afraid look in the corner of his eyes. Sasuke was at his mercy now. He knew where his brother had been and now all he had to do was say the word and Orochimaru would either kill him or make him wish he was never born. Sasuke's eyes were pleading him not to give away what had really happened, if his brother had any sense of justice he would have kept his mouth shut, but he didn't.

"Orochimaru sir, I saw Sasuke head out in the direction of the leaf village. I suspect he went to go warn his old friends of our plot…"

He chuckled to himself. Sasuke only gulped down a lump in his throat His eyes growing wide with fear knowing what would happen next. An odd silence had followed Itachi's voice.

"YOU WHAT!"

Orochimaru yelled with rage and wrapped his hands around Sasuke's neck so quickly that he couldn't escape his grip. Sasuke choked as he tried to breathe but he couldn't draw in air. Orochimaru lifted him off his feet as he choked and spat. Itachi only smiled.

"What gives you the right to leave and what gave you the thought that YOU COULD BETRAY ME RIGHT BEHIND MY BACK!"  
Orochimaru screamed with rage as he tightened his grip, Sasuke let out a squeak as the color began to drain from his face. His struggle was becoming more and more desperate as he tried to break free. Itachi only watched enjoying his brother's pain.

"Sir if you hold him like that for any longer he's going to die."

He chuckled.

Sasuke wheezed as he tried to pull away Orochimaru's hands from his neck but he was losing his strength as his lungs begged for oxygen that he didn't have. Orochimaru smirked and threw him to the ground with so much force that he rolled over on his back. Sasuke lay on the ground choking in air and staring at the ceiling with disbelief.

"Two more second's of that and you would have suffocated," Orochimaru smirked cruelly as he kicked Sasuke in the ribs, "get up you fool."

The color was slowly starting to return to Sasuke's face as he struggled to get to his feet but he fell back down from exhaustion.

"Don't stay on the ground, you'll only get **KICKED!"**  
Orochimaru kicked him again causing him to cry out with pain as he fell over on his stomach again, staring up at the ceiling with pain still choking uncontrollably.

"I think you went too far."

Itachi chuckled.

**"SHUT UP!"**

Orochimaru was mad now; he'd had enough of Itachi's joking.

"**GET UP!"**

He ordered, kicking Sasuke again but still he didn't even try to stand.

"**GET UP YOU FOOL!"**

Orochimaru yelled with rage this time Sasuke managed to stager to his feet but he could barely stand, one of his hand s wrapped around his stomach; gritting his teeth in pain.

"Sir Maybe you should st-"

"Itachi one more word out of you and I'll do the same to ya."

Itachi obeyed, but as his brother was kicked, again he started to feel guilty. Sasuke was kicked in the stomach, he fell back against the wall, his knees wobbling but he did not fall. He tasted blood in his mouth as he was hit again. He gave Itachi a look of disbelief and pain as he fell to the ground.

"Why would you do this?"

He choked out in confusion. Itachi only turned his head to leave as his brother fell to the cold floor.

**"Get out of my sight!"**

Orochimaru spat as he kicked him for the final time and walked out of the room following Itachi leaving him to bleed alone in the darkness.


	5. On her doorstep

**Alright here you go! Chapter Five, hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own this story so I'm happy.**

**Chapter Five**

**A guest at her doorstep**

Sakura sighed to herself as she walked the dusty road that led to her small house. Today had just been one of those bad days, a memory better left forgotten. Rain was steadily beginning to pour down.

"The skies not doing me any favors," Sakura muttered under her breath as she walked on, quickly her pace. However, walking fast did her no good; by the time she reached her porch, she was soaked with rainwater and rather grumpy. Al she wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed. She felt so tired from today that she wondered if she should just skip the shower, but then again, soaked with dirty rainwater. She reached for the doorknob but then, she stopped, feeling as though something was wrong. She felt like someone was behind her reaching for a kunai from her pocket, she whirled around with the weapon in h and, expecting it to be an enemy ninja, and that's sort of what she got.

She gasped and threw the weapon to the ground running to the person's aid.

"Sasuke!" she exclaimed, voice filled with fear as she stared at his bleeding figure with wide eyes. What had happened to him?

"I'm sure you've got a lot of questions," Sasuke scoffed," but-" a sudden wave of pain bit off his voice, sending him to his knees. The frightened woman only stared as he collapsed on her doorstep. Quickly, she grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open, turning back to Sasuke. Kakashi had told her not to interfere with him but she didn't care, she was going to help him not matter what Kakashi said. Getting Sasuke into the house though, was easier said then done. He weighed a ton, probably all that extra bulk he'd never had before. She'd been picturing him as the light, skinny, 13 year old that he used to be, but all he was now was a muscular, 21 one year who wasn't doing her any favors by showing up here. From the bottom of her heart, she had been wanting him to come back though. She hated the thought of him staying with Orochimaru in that evil place he called home, she wanted him here, in his real home.

Sasuke groaned with pain as she grabbed his shoulders and began to drag him forward. She struggled immensely as she pulled and tugged until he was finally in the door.

"Now, mind explaining to me what happened to you?" she asked as she quickly went into in to her kitchen and grabbed a blanket that had been lying on one of the chairs. She helped Sasuke onto the couch and draped the small blanket over his shivering body, suddenly feeling very sorry for him.

"You alright?" she asked him, noticing the way he was choking for breath. He gave her a sad glance and broke off coughing.

"This…" he began," is what happens to traitors in Orochimaru's ranks and if he wouldn't have needed me so bad, he would have killed me on the spot."

"Oh Sasuke!" Sakura cried as she suddenly embraced him in her arms making the surprised man squeak as she hugged him," I was so scared that you wouldn't come back! You can't go back there! You've got to stay here! This is your home!" he only sat on the couch bewildered, watching as tears fell from Sakura's eyes.

He sighed," you haven't gotten one pint stronger have you," he chuckled.

"No," Sakura whined," you're wrong. I'm Tsunade's apprentice now, I've learned so many things from her believe me I have. I've just never learned how I'm supposed to act when I start to lose a friend for the second time!" Hearing her voice made Sasuke feel very guilty. He felt ashamed for leaving expecting himself to never be missed. He hated knowing that he was the reason why his friend was standing in front of him and crying. Suddenly he began to feel like he should never left at all.

"Okay please let go," Sasuke said coldly, prying the sobbing woman from him. Sakura sighed and wiped her eyes.

"You're not going back are you?" she finally had enough courage to ask. Sasuke's eyes darted to the ground, his face looking grave and dark.

"I don't think I can, Orochimaru-san wouldn't stand for it. I'm a traitor to Konoha and a traitor to Otowagkure, I don't really have anywhere to go…" he said sadly feeling weak and useless.

"You've still got friends here." Sakura said warmly, smiling slightly. Sasuke only shook his head.

"No one wants me here, they're too afraid I'll leave again. This morning when we talked with Kakashi-san, I could tell he was on edge thinking I might strike him. Everyone's like that now, afraid I've only come back to kill everyone… but I'm not like Itachi…" That much was true. Sasuke would never stop down to Itachi's level no matter how much power it might let him achieve. The only real reason why he had joined Orochimaru in the first place was because he wanted to kill Itachi and only with Orochimaru's training could he wield the power needed. However, after Orochimaru had taken over the Akatsuki, he had made it very clear that Sasuke was to listen to him and not do away with his brother. When Sasuke joined Orochimaru, he'd became his new apprentice saying his first had died before Sasuke joined, and he had to listen to Orochimaru no matter how much he might dislike his orders.

"That isn't true…I want you here…" Sakura said quietly.

"You're a different case, besides if you only knew how much trouble I'd bring with me… Things aren't like they used to be Sakura. I couldn't just hunker down and live a happy life. Orochimaru's got a plan to destroy everything and right now, I think I'm the only one that can stop it."

"I'll go with you!" Sakura volunteer, she wasn't about to let him disappear again even if it meant she'd have to come with him, she was willing to take that chance.

"Still think this is all just a little ninja game, eh?" Sasuke chuckled coldly. Sakura sighed realizing that his attitude had changed since the last time she'd seen him, he seemed more like Orochimaru now.

"Oh Sasuke…" she turned away from him, unable to look in to his cold red eyes," why do you always have to be so stubborn!"

"Stubborn…" that word felt bitter in his mouth. He'd never thought that was the way she thought of him. Was he really stubborn?

"Sakura I'm sorry but I just can't…" his voice trailed off," it would hurt everyone too much."

"No I won't let you leave, I'd rather you fight me here then disappear back into that world of darkness!"

Her words surprised him.

"You really want me to stay eh? I might…give it a chance." Truth was, he really did want to stay. Sakura's heart soared.

"Oh Sasuke!" She cried as she hugged him causing him great discomfort," I knew you'd come back…I just knew it!"


	6. The man we call Itachi

**Here's chapter six! Lately I've begun to realize that I have lost over 50 readers in the first chapter and I wish people wouldn't do that, its going to get a lot more exciting and I feel sorry for the people who won't figure that out cause they don't want to give me a chance, oh well, their loss.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto…pity me**

**Chapter Six**

**The man we call Itachi**

Sakura and Sasuke sat on a few discarded crates in front of a small flower shop, talking with a few other ninja. The sun shone down on the group and the streets were filled with happy people. Today's beauty was no doubt more than most boring days.

"Its nice to know you've decided to stay with us for awhile!" A woman with short black haired said softly as she ran her fingers through her silky hair smiling as she did so.

"Yes Hinata," Sakura said as she looked up at Sasuke, who was sitting next to her," you belong here." All this talking was making him uncomfortable though he had no choice but to stay with them. He didn't want to sound rude by leaving so he simply sat and watched them talk, barely listening as the words left their mouths.

"So you've been at the Akatsuki all this time?" a brown haired man with red paintings on his cheeks asked. Sasuke nodded.

"Though I wouldn't really call it the Akatsuki. You see after Orochimaru took over the Akatsuki there wee only a few surviving members so truthfully speaking, the Akatsuki was dead but he still let them go around thinking they still had something to call home though he really controlled them." He sighed causing the smile to fade from the man's face.

"What you think Akamaru?" the man chuckled as he patted the large dog laying next to the box he was sitting on. Akamaru barked a little and then rolled over on his side, lounging in the sun. Kiba laughed.

"You're too lazy." The dog didn't seem to care.

Their conversation was interrupted as the door leading into the cool flower shop was opened and a blonde haired girl stepped out. She wiped the sweat off her head and sat down next to them.

"Business is booming today and all those flowers are hard to take care off," she sighed," good grief it feels like an oven out here!" Sasuke grimaced hoping the girl wouldn't notice him but Ino's eyes were right on him.

"I still can't believe it." She giggled, still a child after all these years. Sakura seemed almost annoyed that Ino had showed up, she didn't want her anywhere near Sasuke, after all these years it looked like their competition for him was starting up again.

"Can't we talk about anything else?" An older looking black haired boy asked as he closed his eyes and sighed. It seemed like the only thing they'd been talking about was Sasuke this Sasuke that, and he for one, didn't really want to know all this information about Sasuke.

"Oh Neji," the brown haired girl sitting next to him giggled," annoyed because all the attention isn't on you?"

"Oh shut up Tenten," he smirked making the girl giggle even more.

"We should be getting back to Lee soon." Tenten sighed her eyes falling to the clock hanging above the flower shop door. She didn't want to leave but they couldn't stay long.

"So Sasuke," Ino asked as she stared into his annoyed eyes," you gonna settle down here or are you planning on becoming a ninja again?"

"Ino," Sasuke took her words the wrong way and became even more uncomfortable," I was always a ninja," he said coldly, taken aback by her words.

"Oh well of course I was just-" Ino stuttered, Sakura gave her a smile as she straightened her posture.

"Ino don't you have customers to attend to?" Sakura asked slyly. Ino sighed and went back into the shop. She tightened her hands into fists as she closed the door behind her.

"She prances around like Sasuke is all hers, but I'll show her." She mumbled to herself, paying little attention to the customers busily waiting for her service.

Later on that day:

Sasuke sat on the front porch of Sakura's small house, sighing to himself. He'd already found out that there was little to do here if you weren't a ninja but he wasn't about to jump back to his past life, not yet anyway. Part of him missed going on missions but part of him never wanted to do it again. It was all just so confusing, he couldn't choose between the two. Sakura was inside making dinner though he didn't feel hungry. He'd noticed how jumpy she acted around him like she was happy that he was back but at the same time it was putting her on edge. He didn't want to make anybody feel bad around him and didn't really want anything to do with the people pf this village at all. He wanted to sink in like he used to but that seemed impossible.

It seemed like everyone knew that the wonderful Sasuke Uchiha was back and everyone had questions. Sakura had had to practically drag him out of the house this morning. He didn't like her house, it smelled like air fresheners, too clean and tidy. Nevertheless, he had no where else he could go. His red eyes scanned over the village, peering down at the streets and only feeling worse. Too many memories lurked in this place and he didn't think he'd stay here much longer.

He needed to find Itachi and finish the fight, he needed to show him what he was capable of. He was about to drift to sleep when a sudden alarm crept over the streets. A bleeding ninja ran through the gates and into the town, panting for breath as he stopped in the middle of the streets and approached the guards by the door to the Hokage's headquarters. Sasuke's curiosity was beginning to grow as he watched the man begin to explain things to the grounds in a panicky voice. He leaned against the porch railing, trying to pick up his words as he spoke. The man looked like he'd seen a ghost, his face pale and his entire body shaking. He spoke with a stuttering voice.

"Sirs, you…mu-must tell Tsunade-sama immediately! W-we spo-spotted a ninja in the the forest and w-we think it mi-mi-might be Itachi-sama! The Akatsuki member is the Konoha woods!" Sasuke's eyes grew wide when he heard that name. Itachi! Without thinking he sung himself over the porch railing and jumped down onto the street.

He took off down the crowded streets making people stare at him as he ran, pushing through the people. He was running so fast that he slammed right into some one and nearly fell backwards.

"Ouch!" Neji grumbled, rubbing his sore head and picking himself off the ground," watch where you're going!" Mumbling to himself he dusted off his clothes and gave Sasuke a curious glare.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" He asked, much to Sasuke's annoyance. He needed to get to Itachi not sit here and chat with Neji.

"None of your business now get out of my way!" Sasuke growled, trying to push Neji out of the way but the man stood directly in front of him, cutting off his chance of escape.

"You're not leaving are you?" Neji asked, still rubbing the bump on his forehead from when they'd collided.

"**NO** NOW GET OUT OF MY WAY!" His angry tone told Neji he was done fooling around. The ninja sighed as he took a step sideways, letting Sasuke run past him. The Uchiha began his dash down the streets again as Neji watched him leave, his curiosity growing.

"I wonder…" he whispered to himself as he shook his head and took off after the Uchiha…


	7. Itachi vs Neji: Battle in the flames!

**Hiya peoples, here's chapter seven. I've got three chapters up in one day, that's good for me! This is one of the parts of my story that I drew a manga for, but I didn't actually write it done, so I wrote it this morning even though I'd drawn the manga almost three months ago! Oh, did I not tell you that this was story that I was drawing manga too, that's why some of the parts in the beginning seem kind of basic, because I drew the manga before I wrote the part down. I wish I could show you peoples but sadly enough I can not, maybe some day though. Anyway hope you like this chapter. It's a little long. This chapter is dedicated to: Insanity rise, because it was her idea to put Neji in my story.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine…. But this story is! So I can still be happy!**

**Chapter seven**

**Itachi vs. Neji: battle in the flames!**

Itachi slunk through the dark forest, cursing to himself as he walked, his feet feeling heavy and tired. Orochimaru had sent him to retrieve his brother, since no matter if he admitted it or not it was obvious that without people to boss around, Orochimaru didn't do much anymore. That didn't mean he wasn't powerful though, no, it just meant he'd rather have someone else get their hands dirty than go out and do it himself, which was true.

Itachi hadn't expected to find anyone else out here and when he'd ran into that stupid leaf ninja he'd tried to kill him, afraid the element of surprise would be lost and he wouldn't be able to get to his brother. However, that fool had escaped and was probably screaming everything to that dumb village by now, so Itachi was heading back to the dead Akatsuki.

Whether Orochimaru was happy or not didn't hold any water with him, he didn't have to take orders from him all the time, he just did it because he was bored and had nothing better to do. Since Orochimaru claimed to be the leader of the Akatsuki, he would let him play his little game and run around doing whatever mission he asked. Besides, Itachi didn't know where he'd go if he wasn't with the Akatsuki so he kept on acting like he was happy there, but he didn't like Orochimaru's arrogance at all.

Suddenly a sound pierced his ears and he whirled around, his eyes darting to the underbrush covering the path he'd been walking. That was Itachi for you, always alert and ready.

"Who's there!" He demanded to the darkness but received no answer. Itachi was about ready to turn around and keep walking when he heard another noise.

"ITACHI!" Sasuke screamed and lunged at his brother, knocking them both to the ground with so much force that they skidded back.

Neji panted for breath has he sat down in the bushes, knowing he shouldn't interfere. If Sasuke knew that he had come he'd be furious and then he'd have both the Uchiha's against him. Besides, he'd been wondering if Sasuke was still a good fighter and now was his chance to find out. He felt a little afraid though, worried that he might be found, but as Sasuke and Itachi rose to the feet he realized that this was personal and far from just a fight. This was revenge.

"I knew you'd show up," Itachi mused as he shook the dirt out of his hair," funny how I was supposed to be the one coming to you, but this works too."

"Oh why don't you just shut up!" Sasuke growled, his eyes alight with a burning rage. He was going to finish Itachi right now! Neji simply watched with anticipation.

"So you've come to fight me have you?" Itachi could easily red his younger brothers mind, he knew he wanted him dead.

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Sasuke yelled as he rushed at his brother again, but this time Itachi was ready. The kunai knife he'd been hiding in his hand sliced across his brothers chest as he threw his fist at his face and missed. Sasuke cried out with pain and fell to the ground, the deep wound sending waves of pain up his spine.

Itachi smirked as Sasuke fell to the ground, his own blood covering the forest floor. The pitiful ness his brother was expressing was amusing to him.

"See what I mean when I say you are weak? Someone smart would have begun to realize that we are no match for each other, you so behind and me so ahead, but you never were very smart!" If Sasuke hadn't have been hurt he would have pounded his brother right there. His eyes burned with flames of rage as he glared at the laughing man.

"Shut up!" He spat, his voice trembling with rage, but there was hardly anything he could do other than hurl insults. The wound in his chest was burning and he didn't know how much longer he could take this before he blacked out. He was fighting himself, forcing his eyes to stay open as his eye lids began to droop.

This battle wasn't over yet and he had to prove it. He had to show Itachi that he wasn't as weak as he thought! He had to prove himself or else all he'd ever get from his brother would be more and more insults. Gritting his teeth, he tried to stand up but his knees buckled underneath him and he fell to the ground with a squeak of surprise, Itachi only laughed.

Neji watched the whole scene from his safe hiding spot in the bushes, but he was also fighting himself. He wanted so badly to run to his friends aid, but he could only imagine what Sasuke would think and Itachi literally scared him. He wasn't sure if his own abilities could even summon up to the strong Uchiha but if he didn't try then Sasuke would be in deep trouble. It amazed him how Itachi could bring a person down in one blow. He'd never before met a ninja with so much power and strength.

His amethyst eyes darted to the laughing Uchiha feeling his own anger begin to grow. He couldn't let people treat his friends like that! Sighing to himself, he made the decision…

"Now little brother," Itachi said coldly," its time to die!" He raised his hand in the air, gripping a kunai tightly, preparing to strike his brother for the last time. Sasuke looked up at him with eyes full of sadness as he sighed and prepared to take the blow. If he was this weak then he could never beat Itachi, he had nothing to live for anymore. He hung his head in defeat, tears falling with the blood.

The weapon sliced through the air as Itachi laughed with glee, but today wasn't Sasuke's last day! Suddenly a streak of black flung itself between Itachi and Sasuke with amazing speed. The weapon sliced across Neji's shoulder making the man cringe with pain, but a small smile curled on his lips when he saw the look on Itachi's face.

"Who are you!" Itachi asked angrily as he gripped the knife in his hand tighter. Neji only smiled.

"I am, Hyuga Neji, and I'm here to help a friend!" He placed his hand on his chest and smirked, introducing himself. Itachi only stared at him dumbly for a few seconds and then shook his head.

"Another fool to play around with!" He laughed causing Neji to scowl.

"You've got too much arrogance." He declared at Itachi lunged at him with the kunai, this time he wasn't so stupid though. Neji hurled out of the way of the weapon with amazing speeds, jumping back and kicking Itachi square in the chest, slamming the man into the ground. Itachi fell backwards, falling into the dirt and cursing under his breath.

Glaring at his new opponent, he rose to his feet. Crimson dripped down his chin as his eyes met Neji's amethyst ones. He had obviously found a strong opponent to fight.

"Well Neji, I'll have to admit you caught me off ground," he laughed icily sending shivers down Neji's spine," but that won't happen again." His hands tightened into fists as he rose to his feet. Neji shook off his feelings of fear knowing that he had just got himself into a big mess. Itachi was stronger than he was, that was obvious, but he could still give him a run for his money.

**"NOW ITS TIME TO FIGHT!"** Itachi yelled as he lunged at Neji, his feet barely hitting then ground as he ran forward with incredible speeds. Neji saw it coming but he didn't have enough time to dodge, the speed much faster than his own movements.

He felt a sharp pain in his stomach as he was punched with so much force that he dug his feet into the soil to keep his balance. But that wasn't the end of it. He felt something cold slice across his chest as he looked up to see more and more shurikans flying towards him. By the time he'd realized what had just happened it was too late.

The weapon sliced through the fabric of his jacket, ripping it to shreds as he fell farther into the darkness crying out with pain. Itachi smirked as he watched his opponent fly. With a squeak, Neji hit the ground, landing painfully on his left shoulder as the impact made him skid across the surface of the dirt. Crimson seeped from his torn jacket as dirt flew up everywhere, Sasuke could only watch in fear.

Neji wasn't one to give up and as soon as he regained his wits, he slowly began to stand up. Itachi only laughed as blood slipped down Neji's face, his eyes flickering with wicked humor.

"Like I said," he mocked, turning to face his brother again," no one from that stupid leaf village can ever stand up to me!"

**"I'M YOU'RE OPPONENT!"** Neji screamed, he wouldn't let this man insult his home. Itachi's words triggered his rage as Neji's hate began to transform into something far more powerful. All his rage drug him forward, letting him fight, his soul surpassing the pain in his body as he lunged at Itachi in one final desperate attempt! The Akatsuki member's guard was down, not anticipating an attack as Neji flew forward, his feet light on the ground as he rushed at his opponent. Amethyst eyes a blaze, Neji slammed all his weight against Itachi and forced the man back with his fist sending him hurdling backwards. He was Oblivious to Sasuke's cries as he lunged at Itachi again. However, anger did not win a battle, it only clouds judgment!

Suddenly Neji felt himself fall to the cold ground as Itachi laughed. His hands formed into a familiar sign making Sasuke scream for him to stop. Neji stared up at Itachi, blood clouding his view as flames suddenly began to crack through the air. The hot mixture of ember surrounded the hurt ninja, engulfing his world into nothing but flames. The hot intensity burned his skin causing more crimson. Neji screamed with pain, the pain inescapable, his entire body cringing and twitching as he felt the flames over take him. Sasuke only watched with sad eyes as his friend was destroyed. Why did Neji have to come when he'd told him not to! He felt so mad at himself for being so weak, so helpless in this situation that it made him feel sick. He couldn't take it. The smug face of Itachi still grinning in his head, he felt his hate rise with the flames.

"I swear to you Itachi…" he mumbled as he tightened his hand into a fist," someday I'LL KILL YOU!"

Hope you liked it, please review! Come on peoples….you know you want to…


	8. Finding the cure

**Hello peoples, yesterday was kind of a vacation for me since my dad was off work so I didn't write anything, but I'm writing today so don't you worry. Everybody is like where's Gaara, well here's the answer to your question people! I had to kind of force myself to write this because when I was typing this I lused to like Gaara a lot more than I do now so it isn't as fun anymore. So typed this part this morning after I ate my breakfast, and I think I'm gonna go type on this some more. Thanks for 500 readers! Ands its only been around for four days! That's good for me!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto**

**Chapter Eight**

**Finding the cure**

Gaara sat alone in the darkness, lost in his pool of thought. The poison was starting to take its toll, sweat rolling down his face, his red bangs sticking to his forehead.

He'd felt like this since the night Itachi had come, and he was still cursing himself for it. He couldn't believe that he would let his guard down like that. The fact that he had been poisoned and would probably die wasn't really bothering him, he felt worse about what might happen if he did pass away. Kankurou couldn't become the Kazekage, he just wasn't right for the job, and Gaara knew that.

He'd been sitting in his room for days, staring into the darkness. His thoughts troubled him so much that he hadn't been eating nor had he had anything to do with his family for the last few days. He didn't want to see their faces, he didn't want their pity. He hated knowing that they were sad because of him…

Sighing to himself, he stared out the one window in his room, the only light in all the darkness glaring down from the full moon outside.

"I'm worried about Gaara," Temari groaned from her seat at the kitchen table. She gripped a warm cup of coffee in her hands, though she hadn't touch it yet. Kankurou leaned against the Kitchen wall, sharing her distress. It was funny how he never seemed to sit at the table, but that didn't really matter right now. Temari stared into the dark liquid in her coffee cup, feeling very sad.

"I am too but I don't think that's going to get us anywhere," Kankurou grimaced, his eyes glaring out the window above the kitchen sink, staring into the starry sky, the lights of the stars flickering in his eyes. He didn't know what to do about Gaara right now.

"He's so stubborn sometimes," Temari said as she took a sip of her coffee, the hot liquid make her feel more refreshed and warm.

"He'll die at this rate though." Kankurou scoffed. Lately they'd been trying their best to figure out how to get a cure for the poison, but they didn't know enough about it to know of how to even start trying to find a cure. From where they were standing it seemed pretty hopeless.

"We just need to think about this right?"

"Right?" Temari asked, raising an eyebrow. It wasn't like Kankurou to be thinking like this. Kankurou was normally very laid back, but maybe he had finally realized how serious this situation was.

"The dagger we found had some kind of black and purple liquid painted all over it, now do you know anything that it could have came from?"

"Well," Temari placed a finger on her forehead, racking her brain for any answers she might hold," normally poisons come from snakes, but that would be too easy wouldn't it? There are some poisonous flowers around…I think…"

"Exactly!" Kankurou exclaimed," and where are these flowers normally located? In places filled with water and moist soil, and where is that!"  
"KIRIGAKURE!" Temari cried out with glee. Kankurou was a genius!

"So if anyone knows about how to cure the poison, it would be the people there so all you gotta do is head off!" Kankurou squeaked with surprise as Temari embraced him in a warm hug. She wasn't normally that nice and it kind of scared him making him wonder if this was really Temari.

"You could pretend to be the Kazekage while we're gone. We could send out fake news saying Gaara's dead so no body will come looking for us! It's perfect!" Truly the plan was genius, but it took more than a good plan to get them where they needed to be. They ha to execute it right or else everything would be messed up. Kankurou's heart skipped a beat at the mention of becoming the "fake" Kazekage for a while. He'd always wanted to try out being the Kazekage and now that he had a chance to show everyone what he was capable he was excited!

"Don't worry Temari! I won't let you down!"


	9. Starting the journey

**Okay this was another one of those chapters that I had to push myself to write, good thing is that now things will start getting more exciting now that they are off! YEAH! So I hope you stay with me now that the journey had officially begun! Off to Kirigakure!**

**Disclaimer: this girl does not own Naruto **

**Chapter nine**

**Starting the Journey **

"I managed to get his fever down, but I'm afraid the burns have done so major damage," Sakura groaned, placing her hand on Neji's forehead and feeling the hot flesh underneath. After the battle with Itachi, Sasuke had barely managed to drag himself and Neji back here, but somehow, they'd made it.

Sasuke only stared at the ground, at a complete loss for words. He knew she was mad at him for running off and he knew she was mad at him and he couldn't find the right words to tell her he was sorry. She'd probably never forgive him anyway. He was so mad at himself for letting this happen to Neji, but it seemed like things always turned out this way. His friends always tried to look after him and help, but they only got caught the cross fire.

"I'm so that I've caused so much trouble…" He mustered the words, hoping to defeat the frown on Sakura's face but it did not disappear.

"Sasuke you've got to stop this, are you always running around getting everybody afraid and hurt? Is this the way you've been for the last 5 years! If so then I don't want anything to do with you." That was an obvious lie Sakura would go anywhere he went no matter what, she was just mad after what had happened to Neji.

"I don't mean too, it just happens." Guilt filled Sasuke and he thought talking to her might help him but he wasn't feeling any better.

"Well now you see what happens!" Sakura exclaimed in a rude tone as she went back to wrapping Bandages around the burns on Neji's arms.

"I'm sorry…" Sasuke grimaced, his eyes staring at the cold ground. Sakura turned to face him and forced a small smile, this time he looked like he really meant those words.

"Its alright, but I still wonder, what are you going to do? Are we headed off to the villages to warn the Kage's or not?" That question had plagued her for some time. She had just been too afraid to ask, fearing he would say no.

"I guess…we should head out soon…"

"You mean," Sakura squeaked with surprise," you're coming!" Her eyes light up with glee.

"Well you can't go alone can you!" Sakura squealed with glee and hugged him, Sasuke letting out a surprised squeak as she embraced him in a tight hug. She was so happy that he'd decided to go with her. All day she'd been dreading the trip, having no wanting to head out alone but with Sasuke, she'd manage.

"Okay please let go of me." Sasuke finally said as he pried the girl from him, his cheeks turning red.

"Oh sorry…" Sakura giggled noticing the funny look on his face," guess I still haven't grown up as much as I need too."

The next day:

"Alright," Kakashi began as he set a map down on Sakura's kitchen table and began pointing to the many words and marking running all over the scroll.

"Your first stop will be the Mist village saying we have alliances there and it will make the people more cooperative." Sasuke and Sakura nodded as he pointed to the big blue mark with the word "Kirigakure" running over it.

"Then you'll need to head off Iwagakure, the village hidden in the stones. We have a slight alliance there, but it's a long way away from the mist village, the trip will take at least four days. We don't need to go back to Sunagakure because they already know about the threat. And last but not least, the village hidden the clouds. We were at wt with them almost twenty years ago and we don't know much about them anymore so I can't tell you what to expect." He sighed and pointed to the large section of the map labeled Kumogakure.

"What about there?" Sakura's finger darted towards the hidden sound village," we have to cross right through it to get to Kumogakure!"

Kakashi only laughed," Sakura that village has been destroyed for years; it should give you no trouble."

"Oh yeah…" Sakura sighed, feeling stupid for asking the question.

"You'll start the journey tomorrow morning and it shouldn't take you but two weeks, and then you'll head back. Sadly, we'll have no way of communicating but I know you can do it. Don't waste more time coming back here until the journey is finished. This is an S-class mission, one of the toughest ever presented to ninja but I've got confidence in you!" Kakashi exclaimed as he rolled the map back up and handed it to Sakura smiling as he did so," good luck." Sakura returned his glance as she took the large map in her hands.

"We're ready."

It was too early for the sun to be up, the sky still holding the essence of night even though the time proved different. A small drizzle of rain fell down from the heavens, just enough to keep most of the forest animals in their homes, not wanting to confront the cold rain. One the gates of Konoha, two figures stood in the rain, their eyes staring out into the forest before them, ready to take on its challenge and enter.

"Are you ready Sasuke?" Sakura asked impatiently, adjusting the straps of her pack so it wouldn't fall off. She glared at Sasuke and groaned. He'd been going through his pack to make sure he'd packed everything he needed and it taking him so time. She was ready to get going but he had to make sure everything was perfect.

"You sure Neji will be alright?" He asked with a worried tone, his red eyes darting back to the village.

"Tsunade will keep him in the best of care at the hospital now if we don't get going this whole thing will be ruined!"

"Alright!" Sasuke grumbled as he swung the straps of his pack around his shoulders and started off down the road before Sakura could say anything else about how slow he was being. Sakura sighed and followed, already dreading the road ahead of them and they'd barely even begun.

Okay that's the end of all the boring chapters of explaining and such, the train had officially left eh station no prepare for the ride of your life! Of course it would go faster if people reviewed…


	10. Old enemies, new friends?

**Okay peoples, this chapter is going to cause you to have a lot of questions, and I'll try my best to answer them but some of the stuff I don't even have answers too. First I will say this, no flames for this chapter, if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. I don't want to give much away up here so I'll explain more at the end of the chapter, so read fast!**

**Chapter ten**

**Old enemies, new friends**

"Where we gonna stop for the night?" Sasuke groaned as he noticed the darkening clouds in the skies, it was going to rain and he had no wanting to be caught in it.

"I don't know," Sakura grumbled, wishing he wouldn't be so negative about everything.

"We're almost to the Mist village, we'll hopefully get there before the rain stops but if not it won't kill us." She had a point, but she too was beginning to feel tired after all this walking.

All day they'd been walking these dusty roads except for the small boat ride it took to get to the island of the Mist village. It had been pretty boring saying Sasuke wasn't much for talking. Sakura didn't mind that much. She just walked along and enjoyed the scenery, though the world around her was so shrouded in mist that there wasn't much to look at.

Sasuke's eyes darted around him. He didn't like not being able to see what was around him. For all he knew, any one could be watching in the mist. All day he'd felt very on edge and he was happy that they were almost to the mist village, then he could rest.

"Sasuke are you coming?" Sakura looked back, but Sasuke had stopped dead in his tracks.

"Be quiet!" He snapped, his red eyes scanning the mist around him, watching every movement. Sakura only stared at him, frozen to the spot. Was some one else out here?

"Sasuke what is it?" Her heart began to beat faster, she needed the answer to her question to calm her down but Sasuke was completely silent, looking around for an enemy. Small waves of dread began to take hold of her as she too began to look around, but all around them, the mystery was hidden in a sea of mist. Gingerly taking a few steps forward, Sakura made her way next to Sasuke as she reached in her pocket for a few Shurikans.

Just as the weapons came out of their compartment they were suddenly knocked out of her hand by an unseen force. Sakura squeaked with surprise and jumped left, hoping to avoid what ever was trying to attack her. Her eyes widened as Sasuke also took a few stars out of his pocket but they were knocked out of his hand so fast that he couldn't tell what had hit him.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" Sasuke barked into the darkness, becoming more and more angry as the moments in the unknown darkness crept on.

"If you wish…" A voice spoke in the mist as a figure suddenly appeared in front of them, the density of the clouds covering most of his details.

"What do you want!" Sasuke growled, taking a fighting pose as he spotted the figure, the voice that had replied only laughed.

"You should stop being so demanding!" the voice said flatly as Sasuke felt something slice across his shoulder. He doubled over in pain, crimson seeping up from a fresh cut in his arm. Wincing, he held his limp arm in the other, glaring at the unknown opponent with angry eyes.

"Now you're both going to die like the low life you are!" The voice sent shivers down Sakura's spine, but some how it seemed vaguely familiar. As if somewhere down the road of life she'd met the holder though she couldn't put her finger on who might speak with such a clam sounding voice in said situation. Staring at the figure with curios eyes, she tried to remember, her thoughts drifting her out of her sea of sanity.

Green eyes darting to Sasuke and then back at the figure, she kept on thinking she'd seen this before. Such speed, she remembered, but who could move so fast?

"YOU'RE THE ONLY ONES THAT GOING TO DIE!" Sasuke yelled as he suddenly took off running straight for the cloudy figure! His hands tightened into fists as he flew through the air with amazing speeds, ones a normal person wouldn't have been able to match, but his opponent was exactly a normal person.

The man just kept standing there, as if he didn't seen Sasuke coming, or he knew what was going to happen. As Sasuke edged closer to the dark figure, the details began to appear in view, as his eyes widened in shock, almost stopping him in his tracks. The man's face was covered with a mask, but something about it was so familiar that he knew he'd seen it before.

Digging him out of his world of thought, he was suddenly thrust backwards by an invisible force, screaming with surprise as he hit the cold air, landing painfully on his right shoulder. Sakura jumped back and drew a kunai from her pocket, looking around with fear-filled eyes. Sweat rolled down her forehead, her stomach twisting in a knot as Sasuke groaned with pain. Out of the blue mist, another figure immerged, this one larger than the other. Bandages covered his mouth, hiding his smile as he approached Sasuke, wielding a huge sword in his hands.

Sakura gulped down a lump in her throat, recognizing the people, but not believing this at all. How could these people still be alive when she'd seen them die?

"ZABUZA! HAKU!" She cried out in disbelief, the figures turning to her with perplexed looking faces.

"Shut up!" Haku screamed in a demanding voice, barking the orders at her and drawing three senbon, ready to fire.

"Haku," Zabuza turned to his partner," kill her."

"WAIT!" Sakura pleaded, shielding her face with her arms, anticipating a blow," please we're not here to fight, we came to warn the Mizukage!"

"Of what!" Zabuza ordered in a sharp voice, making Sakura jump.

"Please I can explain just please put the weapons down!" Zabuza grunted, dropping his sword to the ground and nodding to Haku. The younger man sighed as he put his senbon back in his pocket.

"Now?" Zabuza asked, but thunder was cracking in the distance. He turned to stare at the sky, looking at the black clouds swarming in and sighed.

"Come on you can explain when we get back to the mist village." There were a lot of questions that needed answers and he was going to get them.

---

**Nobody kill me for bringing them back but they were such great characters that I had too, plus this is gonna make a lot more sense later on. Don't forget that most of this story has already been written, and when writing, I foolishly was not aware that Zabuza and Haku were dead, even after I figured that out, it was too late to take them out plus I love them so much anyway. I don't really have any general idea why they are back but I'll think of something so don't you worry! Hope you agree that they were great characters and shouldn't have died, so don't hate me for brining them back, you should e happy! I hope! No flames please but if you have any cool reason why they might be back, since my reason (explained in later on chapters) is kind of only an idea so I would really love it if you people helped me out! Please don't flame me and don't stop reading! I'm sorry if I've made anyone mad! Don't leave me! Oh yeah and I might as well explain why my story progress seems really slow when I claim that I've already written 100 pages. Well you see…I wrote the first part and then I knew what was going to happen in the story, but I skipped it and took off on another part of the story and kept on going and going and going….so I ended up with 111 pages of it sitting on my laptop, but its not connected, that's what I'm working on right now! I can't give away much but I really wish I could tell you peoples what goes on! But I'm afraid the rating might have to go up…not for anything terrible….just some gore and a bit of language later on…. Review please and don't kill me!**


	11. Unwanted guests

**Sorry for the last chapter, it was soo short but this one should make up for it! I love my little Haku to bits! Hope you enjoy! For the next few chapters I will ask people not to flame because I don't know what some will think of Haku and Zabuza! But I'd love it if you took the time to review! Thanks for my 700 readers! I forgot to write a disclaimer in the last chapter, silly me! Yesterday me and Insanity rise discussed the ending to this story and its pretty much planned out. Sadly enough, I am dreading how high my rating is gonna go cause all the gore , so if this thing gets rated M, don't be afraid, its only cause I'm really weird. I just need to finish this part so I can get writing on the end because as I've said before, I have all the other parts already written except this little part and its almost time so progress will began to speed up and the chapters will start to pick up a faster pace! ENJOY! **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto! But this sequel is all mine! WMAHAHAHHAHAHA……….ha!**

**Chapter eleven **

**Unwanted guests**

"Gaara hurry up!" Temari called above the pouring rain, glancing back at her struggling brother. Gaara cursed under his breath as he stumbled along, each step sending waves of pain shooting up his spine. Sweat dripped down his face, his skin pale and sickly looking.

They'd been struggling along like this all day, and as much as Gaara had tried to hide it, he was getting weaker as the hours rolled by. The poison was breaking him down, blurring his sight and sucking all the strength from his body. If they didn't find that cure soon he'd be dead, but Temari didn't know how to do this. She wasn't really sure what she'd do once they reached the mist village. Finally, she was starting to see how flawed Kankurou's plan had been.

"You doing alright back there?" She asked with concern as she glanced back at her limping brother, the gap between them was beginning to widen. The cold rain soaked her, freezing her to the bone.

"I'm fine," Gaara tried to sound tough but there was pain lingering in his tone," keep going!" With a sigh, Temari shook her head and continued walking. Gaara was so stubborn sometimes that it made her wonder if he even wanted to live. He'd rather make sure no one pitied him, then save his own life. On top of that, he seemed very annoyed with this whole expedition, almost as though he didn't want to go.

Kankurou had told her he had every right to be angry, and she knew that, but it pained her to see him in such a state. She glanced down at the muddy path in front of her and sighed again. Soon they'd be at the mist village and she didn't know what they were going to do. She'd thought they should probably find a doctor or a hospital and start asking questions, but that might not get them anyway. Still it was worth a try.

Gaara scowled at the rain around him, hating this cold, wet world from the bottom of his heart.

"So Orochimaru's planning to kill off all the Kages?" Haku asked with curiosity as he and Zabuza listened to Sakura's story with eager eyes. After they'd met on the road, Zabuza and Haku had taken them back to their small house on the outskirts of the mist village. Sakura sat next to the fire with the three, Sasuke grimaced at Haku, holding his bandaged shoulder and wincing.

"Precisely, and that's why we're here." Sakura exclaimed, Sasuke only rolled his eyes, annoyed by her girly ways.

"Wow I wish we could help," Haku smiled as he wrung the rainwater from his hair with a towel. Zabuza sat next to him, quietly drinking a cup of coffee as he listened to Sakura.

"You could come with us tomorrow to speak with the Mizukage if you like, we've got to explain everything to him saying Itachi might show up at any second." Zabuza sighed with sadness and shook his head, wiping the smile of Haku's ace.

"I doubt the Mizukage wants anything to do with us. The farther away from him we are, the better." Haku sighed with disappointment, knowing he was right.

"You guys can spend the night here if you like since the rain doesn't look like it will let up for awhile and its always so quiet and lonely here." Sakura grinned and nodded, the hot intensity of the fire warming her from the inside out.

"That would be great."

The woods surrounding the mist village was silent, the trees and plants being pelted with rain as the hours rolled by. The darkness of the night engulfing the entire world in shadows.

Itachi cursed the rain and wind, his clothes soaked and cold, he continued his journey to the mist village. He was steaming mad. Angry with himself for agreeing to go through with this in the first place, angry that it just had to rain the day he left, angry that he was hopelessly lost in this sea of despair. The pouring rain stung his eyes and chilled him so far down he couldn't feel his body.

It was hopeless to continue going blindly like this, he needed to find a place to stay. A smile curled on his lips as he peered into the darkness in front of him, barely able to make out a single light in the world ahead. It looked as though it was being left off from a house, shelter! That raised his spirits a little bit, as he quickened his pace, eager to escape the downpour.

However, as he approached the small cottage he began to realize that the owners might not let him in, but that really wasn't much of a problem considering it would only take one look in his eyes to change their minds. He approached the building slowly, having second thoughts about this, but he shook off his uneasy feelings and walked up to the doorstep. Who would live out here in the middle of nowhere he didn't know but more importantly, he didn't care.

Anything to escape the rain, he thought as he gripped his hand into a fist and knocked against the wood door, hoping to get an answer on the other side. Nevertheless, after about a minute of waiting he received no answer, angry and impatient, he knocked again, this time banging against the wood with more force, his attempt to escape the cold rain becoming more and more desperate.

"Who on earth could that be?" Haku wondered as he heard a knock at the door.

"OPEN UP!" He heard a muffled demand from outside and stood up from where he'd been sitting with Zabuza and Sakura. Gingerly, he approached the door, his bare feet hitting the cold floor. Sakura and Zabuza stared into the burning fire, wondering who would knock at such an hour. Sasuke just whimpered and nursed his hurt shoulder wishing this wouldn't have happened.

Suddenly something in his head hit him, he recognized that voice! Eyes widening, he whirled around, watching with dread as Haku approached the wooden door, holding out his hand to grab the doorknob.

"NO DON'T!" Sasuke screamed, but it was too late. Haku slid a key in the golden doorknob and received a click from the inside. He prepared to open the door, but instead the wood board slammed open, hitting him in the face and sending him falling back with so much force that he skidded to the floor and hit the wall separating the hall with the living room.

"HAKU!" Zabuza jumped up, always alert. Haku whimpered with pain, crimson dribbling down his chin as he rubbed the bleeding bruise on his forehead, wincing with pain and trembling at the dark figure standing in the door way.

"What do you want!" He said in a shaky voice, his entire body trembling as the man took a few steps into the room, rain splattering all over the floor as he did so. The door swung back and forth, the wind pushing it as thunder played in the distance. Itachi smirked at the trembling figure, grabbing Haku's shirt collar and hoisting him off the ground so he could hear the young man's gasps for air. Haku stared face to face with Itachi, caught under the man's dark glare as he was forced into the air. His feet hanging inches above the ground, he whimpered due to the painful state. His eyes wide with fear, he glared into a pair of red eyes, feeling lightheaded and sick, unable to comprehend what power this man might hold.

"What do you want?" He whimpered again, his voice shaking as he gulped down a lump in his throat.

"I need a place to stay." Itachi grinned maliciously.


	12. The words I'm sorry

**Sorry its been a while since I made a new chapter but this one is so long it should make up for it. When reading this you'll see what I mean when I say poor Haku, cause his life isn't being too nice to him right now… Anyway hope you'll forgive me for not writing on this for those few days, but I'm back and now that I've got new music to write too, (evanescence and Slipknot) things should go along a little smoother because I write better when I'm listening to a good song. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Chapter 12**

**The words "I'm sorry"**

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Zabuza yelled and glared at Itachi, his hands grasping around the sword that had been lying next to him. Sakura stared at Sasuke as she watched him bit his lip with anticipation. A fire was blazing in his eyes, a mad look that worried her.

"Zabuza-san!" Haku cried as Itachi flung him to the cold floor, kicking the man to the wall and laughing as he cried like a dog when he was stricken.

"Shut up kid." He grimaced and turned to the enraged Zabuza, raising an eyebrow as he noticed Sasuke and Sakura sitting by the fire.

"Looks like the whole troops in," he chuckled with cruel humor, watching as Zabuza gripped his sword tighter in his hands.

"Get out of my house…" he barked again, his voice shaking with rage, his eyes a fire. Haku only whimpered with pain, trying his best to remain conscious, but his mind was slowly beginning to dim as a misty haze clouded over his site.

Sasuke's eyes didn't leave Itachi, he only stared at him like a deer in the headlights, his muscles tightening as he held himself back, wanting to lunge at him, but knowing that he shouldn't. The urge to attack was impossible for him to fight and he was barely managing to sit there and watch. Sakura noticed his struggle.

"Let Zabuza handle this!" She begged, afraid that if Sasuke was mixed up in this mess he'd get hurt again, but he was deaf to her cries, standing up so that the flames of the fire cast a shadow over his face, only his red eyes visible to his enemy. Itachi smirked again, finding humor in the moment.

"Never get tired of losing I suppose…" Sasuke winced from pain, his brother's words hurting him more than the wound on his shoulder.

"You need to tone down your ego, its two against one here, you can't win!" Zabuza almost smiled, realizing that Sasuke was thinking of them as a team, he too took a fighting pose, still enraged by the way Itachi had treated Haku.

"You're so foolish to think that your meek little force could stop a person like me, while all I ask for is shelter for the night you just can't live a second without rubbing your little nose in everyone else's business." Itachi mocked in his usual unfeeling, cold voice making Sasuke hate him more and more as the seconds ticked by.

"I won't say it again," Zabuza demanded, ready to swing his sword at any moment," get the hell out of my house before I decide to remove you myself."

"Fine," Itachi said icily,"I will leave, but I'll take him with me!" Haku cried out as Itachi grabbed the man by his hair and pulled him off the ground.

"HAKU!" Zabuza screamed as Itachi suddenly took the man in his arms and dashed out the open door, escaping into the downpour of cold sheets as he left he group in a frenzy. Instead of waiting for a plan, Zabuza's body moved on its own and he took off after Itachi! Diving into the cold world outside as he threw his sword into the mud knowing it would only slow him down. He wasn't thinking straight, the only clear thought in his misty haze the urge to save his friend.

Sakura watched them leave with wide eyes, beginning to realize everything that just happened as it sunk in.

"Come on," Sasuke growled as he walked up to the door way, staring out into the world of shadows," we've got to help. This is my fault." Instead of letting Sakura respond, he just ran out like Zabuza had, leaving the woman sitting in front of the fire with a perplexed look on her face. Shaking the dumbfounded look off, she stood up and dashed out into the night, knowing she had to follow Sasuke, she wouldn't lose him again.

Haku cried with pain as Itachi ran through the mud, slipping and sliding as he nearly lost his balance.

"SHUT UP!" He screamed with anger and threw the crying teen into the mud, his whimpering ceasing as he received a mouth full of mud. The world around him was slowly fading, his head ringing with a burning pain, one that was failing to leave him alone, one that wouldn't go away. He could feel the cold mud slipping all around him as he sunk into the black mush, small trickles of crimson mixing with his tears.

Itachi only wiped his wet bangs out of his face and turned to pick up Haku again, knowing that his brother and Zabuza couldn't be that far behind him. He didn't know where he was going but just as long as he had Haku as a hostage, he knew they couldn't even touch him, so things would work out. Besides, he found it amusing, the way Haku kept crying like a stricken kitten.

"Come on, we gotta keep moving or else your little friends might catch up," Itachi smirked and grabbed Haku by his hair, lifting the whimpering mist nin painfully above the mud," and we wouldn't want that would we?" He mused, staring into Haku's sad eyes. Suddenly he felt a burning sensation fill his stomach and he looked down at his chest with dread, only to see the sickly sight. Three bloody senbon jutted into his stomach, Haku smiled with the same cruelness Itachi had showed him, showing the man that he wasn't the only one pulling the triggers around here. The smiled was quickly wiped off Haku's face as Itachi slammed his fist into the young man's stomach, causing him to sprawl out into the mud again, groaning with pain as he gave into it.

Biting his lip with pain, Itachi wrapped his hands around the bloody needles and pulled them out of his stomach, feeling a small amount of crimson dribbling down his lips as he did so. That stupid kid was going to pay for this. But why had he been so stupid to let his guard like that? Sighing with dismay, he wiped the trickle of crimson off his chin and turned back to faced Haku, the nin's body trembling with fear as he sunk back into the mud, letting the rain drown him.

Itachi ignored the pain in his chest and walked over to the ninja, kicking him across the back as he reached him. Haku rolled over on his stomach, groaning as his vision blurred again, the world around him only a swirl of colors. Hot tears welled in his eyes as Itachi kicked him again, sending waves f pain up his spine, the world around him only hurting him more and more.

"Maybe I should just kill you now," Itachi sneered, making Haku cry out unnaturally, as he kicked him again.

"Oh Zabuza-san," Haku whispered to himself in agony," I've failed you… I'm so sorry…" as soon as those words left his mouth, everything around him went black. The cold rain disappeared and he could no longer feel the blood as it spilled unto the mud, the only world around him now one filled with dark shadows…

"HAKU!" Zabuza wailed as he caught up to Itachi, gaping at the bloody scene in front of him, a sickening feeling creeping over him as he stared at the bloody figure under Itachi's foot. He couldn't believe it, Haku's body was soaked in blood and mud, the only movement made was his chest heaving as he struggling for breath, his mind overcome with darkness.

"I'm sorry, was this yours," Itachi said cruelly, making Zabuza jump as he gave Haku another kick.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!" Zabuza ordered, tears of rage and sadness welling up in his eyes as he felt his anger rise. Flames of madness burning through him, he began to feel his ferocity taking control.

His hands formed into fists, know wishing he hadn't left his sword behind. How could a person be so cruel as to hurt Haku like that, the mere thought of it all making him feel even worse, Zabuza prepared to fight.

"Hardly put up much of a fight," Itachi snickered as he turned to face Zabuza, kicking Haku's body aside that a broken rag doll, his blood falling like stuffing," Last thing I heard him say before he went out was that he was sorry, guess he felt bad for being so weak, almost feel sorry for him, almost." Noticing the way Zabuza flinched when he heard Haku's name mentioned, Itachi wondered if he should continue.

Just before he opened his mouth to speak, Sakura and Sasuke reached Zabuza's side, huffing and puffing for breath as they also stared at the scene before them with dumbfounded eyes. Sakura felt tears in her eyes as she noticed Haku, Sasuke only glared at Itachi with madness flashing across his face, feeling the same way Zabuza did.

"You've hurt some one for the last time Itachi!" Sasuke screamed with rage, ashamed that his on blood had been the one to cause his friends so much pain. Sakura tore away from the two, stumbling to Haku's side and taking the bleeding figure in her arms. Praying he was still alive, she hugged the mud-stained figure close and listened for a heartbeat, hope skipped through her as she heard that familiar sound. He was alive, but he didn't look good.

Zabuza closed his eyes, trying to hold himself back, remembering the last time he got this angry, it nearly got him killed. However, he knew Haku had always been weak when it came to being physically hurt. He was so small and fragile that he couldn't take much of a beating and one punch was enough to do sever damage. He was strong in some ways, but weak in others and Itachi had easily found those weaknesses.

"Haku…" Sakura asked as he gently shook him, feeling crimson in her hands as she held him," Haku?" He couldn't hear her cries…

---

Annie: so sad but I'm gonna keep on going

Haku: Why did you have to beat me up like that!

Annie: Because I'm the writer and you do what I say

Haku: Not 'a! I do what do what Zabuza-san says!

Annie: If he told you to jump off a cliff would you?

Haku: …

Annie: PLEASE REVIEW SO WE CAN SAVE HAKU QUICKER! Thanks for 1,000 reads! huggles Haku and waves See you next time!


	13. Disappearing into Darkness

**Annie: This is one of the saddest chapters yet, but if I say anymore, I'll be giving too much away. I know this is really long but it's a major turning point in the story so I hope you enjoy it! Please keep reviewing and reading and thanks for the support. There might be a few grammar mistakes here but I'm only human….**

**Chapter 13**

**Disappearing into darkness**

"YOU MONSTER!"

Sasuke screamed, enraged that Itachi had once again found a way to hurt him and everyone that cared about him too. He was tired of Itachi always getting in the way of his happiness and always destroying any hopes they had had of getting a happy future. Years ago he'd killed everyone that Sasuke cared and for what reason? Simply because he thought of them as nothing more then sheep, something he could slaughter time and time again and never feel the smallest ping of regret.

"Monster am I? He's the one who stabbed me, I simply defended myself." Itachi mused, shooting Sakura a cold glare as she hugged Haku.

"Shut up Itachi, I've had about enough of your lies. Now get out of here before I pound my fist into your stupid face!" He growled, his hands forming into fists to emphasize his point. Itachi didn't look the least bit intimidated.

"So you gonna kill me with your big talk or do you actually what to fight!" That did it! Something inside Sasuke just snapped, and like he did when he had encountered Itachi in the forest around Konoha, he switched into over drive and stopped thinking. Instead of planning his attack with Zabuza, he just charged head on! Screaming as he lunged at his brother, Sasuke swung his fist through the air expecting to hit Itachi but instead he only swerved around and hit nothing but air.

Itachi jumped through the air, sliding into the mud and nearly losing his balance as he dodged Sasuke's blow easily, a dark smirk on his face as he noticed the way Sasuke looked. His younger brother looked as if he was about ready to kill everyone right there. His face red with anger, his entire body shaking with rage as he turned to face Itachi again. It was the same every time, Sasuke dealt the blow and Itachi dodged it. Maybe Itachi had been right. Maybe Sasuke wasn't as strong as he was, but that didn't stop him from fighting. Sweat dripped down his face, his energy seeping out of his body every time he swung his fist, only to be met with bitter defeat as Itachi dodged again.

Sakura and Zabuza only watched as the brother struggled in the rain, Itachi laughing cruelly as Sasuke missed again and again, but he didn't give up. He wasn't going to let Itachi run away anymore, this time he'd be the one begging for mercy, this time Itachi would pay.

"I will avenge their deaths!" Sasuke screamed as he suddenly jumped into the air just as Itachi dodged his last blow, swerving left just as his brother did and swinging his fists again," I WILL MAKE YOU PAY!" Screaming with rage as tears welled in his eyes Sasuke brought his fist down on his brother's stomach, this time hitting the target and slamming Itachi into the mud. Itachi gritted his teeth as he tasted blood in his mouth, his body slamming painfully into the mud-covered ground. Sasuke skidded across the mud, digging his feet into the ground as he swayed backwards, barely able to keep his balance in all the mud and rain.

"How do you like that!" He grinned as Itachi spat up blood, the impact from the blow causing a burning sensation to rise in his chest, the crimson soaking into the mud. He sat up, wiping the mud and crimson off his face with his soaked shirtsleeve, glaring at Sasuke with red eyes.

"You honestly think one blow will make me cower in fear, you honestly think that hurt me!" He mocked his words stinging his brother like knives.

"JUST SHUT UP!" Sasuke roared, as he charged at his brother again, not giving him a chance to stand up as he ran through the mud with his fists in the air.

Sasuke had done it again though, he had charged head on without thinking and this time there would be consequences. The Uchiha let out a surprised squeak as Itachi threw a kunai in his direction, the weapon stabbing painfully into his stomach sending him falling into the mud, now at Itachi's mercy. He thrashed about in the mud as Itachi slammed his foot down on his brothers chest making Sasuke scream in agony as he found it impossible to pry from Itachi's grasp.

"NOW BROTHER!" Itachi kicked him again, smirking as he did so," JOIN THE OTHERS THAT YOU'VA CLAIMED TO MISS FOR SO LONG!" He was really going to do it this time! He was going to kill Sasuke! Taking another kunai from his pocket.

"NO!" Sakura screamed as she realized what he was going to do, staring at Zabuza with pleading eyes. The mist nin cursed under his breath knowing he had to do something before Sasuke was killed. Grabbing a few shurikans out of his pocket, he prepared to charge at Itachi, but a voice kept him back.

"Stay where you are!" Sasuke barked," this is between me and Itachi!" He glared up at his attacker, red eyes burning with rages fire as Itachi gripped the knife tightly, ready to strike.

Sasuke felt so mad at himself for being so weak, so tired of his brother surpassing him in everything, but as he watched Itachi standing over him with that weapon, an idea formed in his head. Something he'd once been given might be able to save him in this situation, something that would greatly surpass Itachi, but did he dare do this. Remembering all the times he'd been told not to take this plan, for it was truly suicide, but what other choice did he have? It had been years since he'd tried this, and now seemed like the perfect time to put things into action…it was no or never!

The grin suddenly disappeared from Itachi's face, Sakura gasped, Zabuza only stared with wide eyes as strange looking marking suddenly began to burn allover Sasuke's body, consuming him into a creature that he'd promised Sakura he'd never unlock again, but now he was breaking that promise. All the memories seemed to flash before his eyes as he felt a burning sensation fill through his entire body, gripping him tightly into a different world, one where he was nothing but a vessel for its power.

Eyes opening wide, he dug his nails into the mud, trying to stop the pain that he had literally asked to take over him, but it was too late now. Eyes changing from red to black, his pupils turned a golden yellow and his skin turned gray, strands of dark hair growing before his eyes as the fiery hell he'd told himself he would never bring back, took control of his world.

"NO! SASUKE!" Sakura cried as she realized what was happening. She could remember Naruto telling her what had taken place at the waterfalls that day he'd tried to stop him from going to Orochimaru, he'd told her all about how Sasuke looked when his cursed seal level rose. To Sasuke, the taste of this power was bitter sweet, now he could destroy Itachi, but at the same time, he lost control of his body. Itachi drew back from his brother; his red eyes widening as he jumped back and nearly fell backwards in the mud. Sasuke cried out with pain as a pair of blood covered wing began to pierce out of his back, a great deal of crimson falling into the mud as he gritted his teeth, his entire body hurting all over.

Sakura clutched Haku tighter, more tears falling form her eyes as she watched Sasuke transform knowing there was nothing she could do to stop him, it was too late now. How could he do this to himself! He'd promised her and now she was so scared as she felt like she was going to be sick. Hot tears sliding down her cheeks, she buried her head in Haku's chest, sobbing fitfully.

Slowly, the creature that Sasuke had now become rose to his feet, smirking as he noticed the scared look on Itachi's face.

"Let's see who dies now, eh?" He chuckled coldly, his voice sending chills up Itachi's spine. Gulping down a lump in his throat, Itachi prepared to fight to the death, arming himself with more kunai. Sasuke only laughed.

"So you're just going to stand there!"

"Not a chance, but I'm not as stupid as you, I don't charge blindly at my enemies." Itachi mocked taking a few steps back, widening the gap between him and his brother.

Sasuke only clenched his fists, wanting more then anything to wipe that smile of Itachi's face, but instead of punching him, a dark plan began to form in his head.

Suddenly he darted into the raying skies, disappearing into the darkness, the only sound above the falling rain, the steady beat of his winds flapping through the air. Itachi's eyes darted all around him, Sasuke disappearing from view. Fear began to move over his senses, afraid that this might be his last battle. Just one look at his brother now made him cringe, and he never could have imagined that Sasuke could posses such power. The mere thought of it all terrified him.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" He ordered into the darkness. He could hear Sasuke but he couldn't see him anywhere. A dark chuckle was the only reply he received, Sasuke enjoying every second of his brothers misery. Now he was finally going to get his revenge!

Itachi suddenly let out a pain-filled scream as he felt sharp claws slice across his chest, pushing him into the cold mud and forcing him back. Crimson splattered in front of his eyes as he sunk into the dark world all around him, glaring up into Sasuke's black eyes with hate and spite. He screamed with agony, Sasuke clawed hands swiping across his arms, blood bubbling up from the fresh wounds.

"He's lost control of his body," Sakura moaned, her green eyes darting to Zabuza," he won't stop into everyone's dead!"

"then I'll just have to stop him!" Zabuza said bravely, but there was a hint of fear mixed in with his voice. He wasn't sure he'd be able to take down Sasuke, not when he looked like that, but Sakura was right. If they didn't end this now, everyone would be in danger. He gripped the weapons in his hands tightly, his muscles tightening as he prepared to jolt forward.

Sasuke dug into Itachi with such glee, ripping his claws across his skin, watching the blood spill like a child would a movie, loving every second of it as he took in the delicious taste of revenge he'd wanted for so long. But something was wrong, for some reason, no matter how much he tried he couldn't stop, feeling like his body was being controlled by someone else. He'd given into this power and now it was backfiring. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back and thrashed around, coming face to face with Zabuza, a bloody shurikan in his hand. Sasuke groaned with agony, feeling the cold metal of more shurikans ripping into his back.

He glared at Zabuza with hate, his eyes burning as he slashed his claws through the air.

"NO!" Sakura screamed as blood exploded everywhere, Zabuza falling into the mud around him, crimson seeping from a huge cut in his chest. This was terrible. Sasuke grinned evilly and turned back to the whimpering Itachi, the malevolent look in his eyes telling Sakura all she needed to know about what might happen he next, he wasn't finished with his brother yet.

Sakura wiped the tears from her face, she had to stop this now, she was the only one that could. Sasuke had lost all control and now he was nothing but a powerful killing machine. She couldn't let him leave again. Ever since he came back, she'd been determined to always make sure he was by her side, always make sure he was happy so that he'd never leave her again and watching the bloody scene in front of her, she knew he was gone. She had to get him back.

Sasuke grinned, staring down at his blood covered brother, satisfied with his defeat as he turned to leave, only to here Sakura cry out.

"SASUKE DON'T GO!" She screamed above the pouring rain, the misery of the situation too much for her to bear. He only shook his head, he didn't know where he'd go, but he felt like he had to run away, get away from all these people. If he left then maybe he wouldn't get the chance to hurt them. He could barely fight himself from striking her, the urge so strong that his body shook with stress. He was struggling to fight this new power, barely able to control his own mind.

"If you leave me I'll come after you! Don't think that I won't!" Sakura wailed.

"You're stupid, leave me alone if you know what's good for you!" Sasuke growled as he took a few weary steps forward, making Sakura cry even more. 'I won't let him go, not again!" She thought to herself as she let go of Haku and stood up. Suddenly she dashed forward, racing after him, memories flashing through her head.

"Sakura there's something I've always wanted to tell you." Sasuke said coldly, his voice making shivers run up Sakura's spine.

"Yes Sasuke?"

She had a good idea of what he might tell her. All her life she'd been chasing after him and in the past it had seemed like fate was on her side, until today.

"Sakura," he turned his back so that he couldn't look into her eyes. Sakura's heart skipped a beat, if only he could say he loved her that would be enough, he could leave then, but only if those words left his mouth.

"All those years when you and Ino used to fight over me, all those days you'd be so nice and hide your true self hoping to impress me, well I've got to tell you why I never said anything, it's because….I don't love you."

He said coldly as he stepped forward, starting off down the path. Sakura's heart was broken, she fell to her knees and let the rain wash away her tears, but they kept falling. She couldn't believe the words, they hurt worse than any weapon. All her life she'd wanted nothing more than to hear the words "I love you" from Sasuke Uchiha and now, she'd never hear them.

"Sasuke, don't go," she reached out to him as he drifted into the darkness, "SASUKE!"

"SASUKE!" She cried above the rain as she fell forward and embraced him in a hug, hot tears welling in her arms as she felt his cold body shaking under her grip, not willing to let him leave again.

"Oh Sasuke please stop!" She pleaded as she hugged him tighter, burying her head in his back and crying even more," you can't leave me again!" How could he not see how she cared about him? How could he not care about her back! After all they'd been through did he really not love her! Sasuke's eyes widened, the memories flooding back to him. He pictured three happy genin, skipping down the road and laughing with their sensei. There was a pink haired girl, a jumpy looking blonde hired boy, and one with black hair that he recognized at himself. It pained him to know that he was the one that had taken away their smiles; he hurt them so much that he couldn't stand it.

"Sakura…" He whispered, eyes turning red again as he sighed with dismay, remembering his friends and wishing so badly that he could overcome this, but the feelings of hate and rage were too much for him to control and his body was slipping out of his control again.

Suddenly Sakura cried out as she pushed away from Sasuke by a pair of clawed hands. She slipped backwards, falling to her knees in the mud as he turned around to face her.

"Don't come running after me again!" Those words sliced through her heart like knives as he turned and dashed into the darkness. Sakura could only watch helplessly as the shadows engulfed him and she found herself alone.

"Goodbye Sasuke," she whispered with sadness, and with those words, she fainted.

---

Sakura: Wow Annie, you really got in touch with you inner emo.

Annie: Yeah whatever

Sakura: it that all you have to say?

Annie: No

Sakura: Well?

Annie: I'm hungry, wonder what's for dinner! Yes it is dinner time and I am hungry! So my mommy better have made something yummy!

Sakura: (Watches Annie leave room and go downstairs to the kitchen) well I guess I'll say it then, "Hope you enjoyed the story and please keep reviewing!" Now I do wonder, what is for dinner? (Goes to join Annie in the kitchen)


	14. Awakening

**Annie: Yo! Here's the next part since I kind of left off at a cliff hanger on Chapter 13, anyway as soon as I write chapter 15 I'll have it connected with the other par that I wrote and it will be smooth sailing and I'll probably be able to find time to write on my other stories since people seem to like them too. I'm so sad because there's no Kabuto in this story, but if I started talking about that, I might give away stuff so I need to just shut up right now! I've had dinner so I'm gonna go type on chapter 15, I can't type for awhile tomorrow because I have a piano lesson but I don't mind! I get to play "Beauty and the Beast" on a grand piano so yeah it'll be funny, gotta go now since this note is getting long and I doubt anyone really wants to hear about me rambling, so on with the story! Thanks to mysteryyoungster for being so supportive and reviewing almost all of my chapters, that was really nice and I hope you keep reading!**

**Chapter 14**

**Awakening **

Sakura awoke to sunshine pouring all over her. At first she opened her eyes and then closed them, too tired and numb to remember what had happened last night, and then it hit her.

"SASUKE!" She jerked up, her eyes darting around the room she was lying in, having no clue where she was. However, the only thing that mattered to her right now was Sasuke. Crying in agony, she buried her head in her hands, remembering how he'd left last night. A soft voice wrought her from her world of misery, making her look up into the eyes of a young girl.

"Hello there," the black haired girl smiled showing a few empty gaps between her teeth," I'm Miraki!" Sakura stared at the little girl with confusion and then took another look around, her eyes growing wide as she realized that she was not in Haku and Zabuza's house like she'd thought. She was in a small room, one large window letting sunlight shine into the empty looking room. She was lying on a soft bed staring into the face of a girl that looked like she was only about 7 years old.

"Oh…well I'm Sakura," she held out her hand and the girl shook in eagerly.

"It's nice to meet you!" She smiled happily and jumped off Sakura's bed, patting the wrinkles in her small dress and turning back to face Sakura.

"Um, Miraki?" Sakura asked the girl.

"Yes?" Miraki tilted her head, as if to be listening.

"How did I get here?" That sounded like a stupid question but she really didn't know the answer. The last thing she reminded was Sasuke disappear and then she blacked out.

"Oh," Miraki beamed," well my mommy was walking home down a road outside the forest and she found you and another person and we took you here and took care of you!"

Sakura had noticed the bandages wrapped around her chest and was happy that the kid had answered her second question before she had to ask it.

"Where is he?" She suddenly asked, remembering Haku's injuries," is he okay!" She nearly jumped making the girl's eyes grow wide with surprise.

"Mommy's taking care of him," she said innocently," I could take you to him if you liked!" Miraki jumped at the thought of helping out Sakura, obviously looking up to the pink haired woman. Sakura nodded and threw the bed sheets off her legs and blinked with surprise, instead of her normal clothes, she was wearing a pair of black pants.

"Okay come on!" Miraki said happily as she took Sakura's hand and drug the woman down the hall, skipping two and fro as she walked. Sakura looked around at her surroundings and smiled. She was in a big house, all around everything looked nice and homey, nothing like her house.

"Mommy!" Miraki said with glee as a blonde haired woman stepped out of a room and closed the door behind her, her face, looking tired.

"Oh hello Miraki sweetie, and who might you be? Nice to see you've finally awakened." She smiled at Sakura, revealing her pearly white teeth.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, thank you for helping last night." Sakura felt awkward meeting knew people in a place like this.

"I'm sure you've already met my darling Miraki and I'm Chiko, hope you're feeling better." Sakura nodded.

"I'm feeling just fine but I was wondering where my friends were, are they al right?"

"Friends?" Chiko asked confusedly," I only found you and one other man outside the woods, sorry but I didn't see anyone else." Sakura sighed to herself, so Zabuza might have went Sasuke, but why would he do that? And what happened to Itachi? There were so many questions she needed answered.

"Could I see him?" Sakura asked, only to receive a sad look from Chiko.

"Of course, but he's in a lot of pain, there wasn't much I could do for him he just kept telling me he wanted Zabuza-san. Is he someone you know? Zabuza I mean."

Sakura stared down at the ground, suddenly feeling a wave of sadness sinking over her," yes but I'm afraid he might have went after another friend of mine, anyway could I see Haku?" Chiko gave her a puzzled look.

"Is that his name?"

"Yes." With those words, Chiko lead Sakura into another small room, expect this one's window wasn't open and it was dark. The entire room was cold and damp, probably because they didn't like how hot it was outside. Sakura's face looked grave as she saw Haku lying on a blanket on the floor, his chest wrapped up tight in bloody bandages, his eyes wide open and blood shot. He didn't even glance at her as she sat down next to him hearing his gasps for air as he struggled to breath. Tears welled in his eyes as he noticed she was there, feeling a lot better around people he recognized.

"ZABUZA-SAN!" He wailed to the ceiling, crying out in agony again and again.

"No no Haku it's alright," Sakura whispered kindly as she put her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort the sobbing teen," Zabuza isn't here right now but everything's Alright." Her words didn't comfort him. He was surrounded by a place that wasn't familiar to him, without the people that he cared about. Weak from blood loss, he couldn't do much except lie there as he choked on his on tears.

"Its alright Haku, you're gonna be fine," Sakura said as she wiped the tears off his face.

"Zabuza-san isn't here is he?" Haku said in a more calm voice. Sakura frowned.

"I'm sorry Haku, but he left when you were unconscious, we beat Itachi though, yep," she had to stop feeling hot tears sliding down her cheeks," and Sasuke…he…Haku he left but we're gonna get him back." Chiko took Miraki's hand and lead hr out of the room, aware that Sakura and Haku needed a few moments alone, feeling awkward just standing there and watching them.

"I want to go home," Haku, wailed, his wounds paining him immensely, the images of Itachi swirling back to him.

"It's alright Haku; soon I'll take you home…soon." She cried and hugged him close, feeling him sobbing in her arms.

Sasuke cried out in agony, pulling out the shurikans embedded in his back and gritting his teeth from pain. However, he had to remove them or else the wounds would easily get infected. He'd taken refuge from the rain in a small cave that he had found outside the mist village and so he'd been lying on these rocks all day, trying his best to tend to his own words, but failing miserably.

It was no use, he needed a doctor, Sakura would have been able to help him, but of course, she wasn't here right now. He was alone, sitting in this dark damp world and cursing to himself. He was still soaked with rainwater and blood and he smelled like a wet dog, his entire appearance looking down right revolting. He didn't care about the way he looked though. All that really mattered was what was going to become of him. He was still stuck in his cursed seal state, unable to control the power feeding spell mark. His neck burned with pain and his entire body was overcome with a strange numb feeling, one that h e didn't like at all. His thoughts swirled in his head so much that it was impossible for him to think straight.

At least no one would see him in this dark place for he was certain that no one knew about this dark cave, if they did it was reasonable that they would have never wanted to return to this evil place. Suddenly he heard the sound of feet against the rocks and his eyes jolted towards the moss covered entrance, spotting a scared looking young man. His eyes grew wide as he noticed Sasuke, the man's appearance scarring him to the bone.

"Uh…sir…" he asked in a shaky voice as he fell backwards, his entire body trembling with sudden fear," do you need help?" He was a kind natured man and thought that maybe Sasuke could use a hand, but his kindness was only met with spite.

"GTE OUT OF HERE! NOW!" Sasuke growled, his voice shaking with anger as he slashed his claws through the air making the man throw his arms out in front of his face as if to protect himself from an oncoming blow.

"GET OUT!" Sasuke again, making the man whimper as he tried to stand up but his knees shivered and his head swirled, so afraid of the evil looking creature in front of him. Suddenly he let out a surprise squeak and darted out of the cave, stumbling into the light world and running down the road screaming something Sasuke couldn't hear. He only buried his head in his hands, so ashamed that he had let this happen to himself.

"Oh great…" he mumbled to himself," just great…"

---

Haku: I want my Zabuza-san! Where did he go!

Annie: be quiet and I'll keep typing so you can figure it out!

Haku: Fine whatever… (stares at Annie as she continues to type furiously on the keyboard)

Haku: Since you're busy I guess I'll say it then, Thanks for reading and please keep reviewing, thanks for all the reviews we really appreciate it!


	15. Eliminate and Eradicate

**I know, no action but the next chapter will be awesome! So read this and hold out to the next one! Please! Or else you'll be missing the best part of our story yet. By our I mean me and Insanity rise cause she edited chapter 16. **

**Chapter 15**

**Eliminate and eradicate **

Haku sat up in bed, staring out the large window and watching rain drops pelt against it, dimming out the world beyond the glass. He felt so overcome with misery that it was unbearable. It had been almost two days now, two long days since Zabuza left without a trace and he was starting to wonder what had happened to him. It worried him to think that Zabuza might have went after Sasuke knowing that he'd probably get himself killed. It wasn't that he didn't have courage in Zabuza it was just that he wasn't used to not being by his side. His wounds were healing quickly though, none of them fatal, but they were still enough to keep him off his feet for the last day. He was beginning to get tired of it and he wished he could do something other than stare out a rain-covered window, but he wasn't being given any other options.

He was beginning to think that Zabuza didn't know where he was, that maybe he was looking for him but couldn't find him. Shaking is head, he tried his best to clear his thoughts, he couldn't think of Zabuza right now, he just couldn't. Chiko and Miraki had been very nice to take them in for the last day, and he was grateful but he longed to go home, maybe Zabuza was there. And there he went again, his thoughts going back to Zabuza. He sighed, over taken with the agony of it all.

"Haku are you all right?" His eyes darted to the doorway, hearing Sakura's kind voice as she closed the door behind her and walked into the cold room, holding a small tray of food in her hands.

"You hungry?" She asked as she set the tray down on a table next to Haku's bed but he only shook his head, his eyes returning back to the window.

Sakura sighed and stared at him for a few moments, upset that he wasn't listening to her.

"Haku you've got to eat."

"I'm not hungry," he said flatly, his tone calm, as usual, his eyes never leaving the window. Sakura shook her head and sat down on the edge of Haku's bed.

"Why not?" She asked, knowing that something was wrong. Haku couldn't meet her eyes," You need to get your strength back up Haku."

"I don't care," Haku sighed," I want to go home."

"Well we're not leaving until you get better, plus I need to ask the villagers if they've seen Sas-" he cut her off, his eyes piercing into hers.

"Is that all you care about! Sasuke this! Sasuke that! No wonder he left! I bet he just can't stand your petty whining, NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The minute those words left his mouth he regretted them, seeing the hurt look in Sakura's eyes and having to turn around.

"Oh Sakura, I'm sorry," he pleaded, afraid she might cry, but Sakura only shook her head, a small warm smiled curling on her lips.

"It's all right Haku," she muttered softly," I know you didn't mean it, we all miss them, now please eat your dinner."

Haku stared at the tray next to his bed and shook his head again, heaving a sigh and turning back to the window," I'm still not hungry."

Sakura closed Haku's door quietly, making sure she didn't disturb him as he drifted off into the world of dreams. She then walked down the long hallway leading to Chiko's kitchen, feeling sad and sorry for Haku. He was taking this whole thing like a tremendous blow, refusing to do anything until Zabuza was brought back. It really was foolish, but Sakura understood the way he felt and she knew that she would have been doing the same if Chiko and Miraki hadn't have been so kind to her.

She was already growing found of the happy people, Miraki reminded her so much of herself at that age, always jumpy and bouncy, that was after Ino had helped her gain the courage to express her self of course She didn't even want to remember those days though, the past still such a pain to her.

"How's your friend?" Chiko asked as Sakura walked into the kitchen and sat down at a small table, sighing to herself and pushing a few pink strands out of her face.

"He's still not eating, but I'm sure he'll be back to normal as soon as we find Zabuza." She sighed again and stared out the window, watching the falling rain with sad eyes. Right now, she was also wishing she were home.

"Sakura," Chiko asked as she wiped her wet hands on her apron, busy preparing dinner for the three," I have something to ask of you."

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you'd go to the market and pick up a few things for dinner, I know it's raining but I'm afraid we really are out of food…" She looked down at the ground, ashamed to be asking so much of her guest.

"It's really alright, really, I've been needing to ask about Sasuke anyway." With those words, she quickly slipped out the door as Chiko handed her a small sheet of paper containing her grocery list. Sakura shoved the slip in her pocket and stared off down the road. The rain didn't bother her that saying as she was used to it. She didn't like how empty the streets were though, it made her feel like she was the only one out in this nig world and the thought of being alone terrified her.

Relief pinged through her as she spotted the familiar market store in the middle of town. She quickly dashed in side, happy to escape the pouring rain. Inside the building was filled high with vegetable on stands and people selling them. There were people everywhere but one crowd caught her attention.

A man stood un top of a building, speaking loudly to the people standing around him. She didn't have to step closer to listen for she heard every word, and each second that man spoke, it chilled her deep down.

"It was in the old cave at the edge of the forest!" The brown haired man called above the crowds," It was a disgusting monster, sharp claws and torn wings! It had black eyes and when it saw me it looked at me as though it was abut to slice me open! I barely got away!" Her eyes grew wide as she whispered the bitter words to herself.

"Sasuke…" No one heard her voice as the crowd around the man began to grow uneasy, whispering and grumbling to themselves.

"What should we do!" A woman cried from the crowd, hugging the two child hiding behind her dress, almost as if invisible enemies were trying to take them away from her that very instant.

"I SAY WE TAKE ALL OUR WEAPONS AND SLAY IT BEFORE IT SLAYS US!" The man on top of the barrel yelled angrily, waving his fist through the air. The people around him began to chant madly, " Kill the demon!" They screamed as Sakura fell to her knees…


	16. KILL THE DEMON!

**Annie: Whoot! Whoot! This is soo awesome, I can't believe we made it, but here you go, chapter 16 in all its glory! I was soo thankful to Insanity rise for editing the whole thing and making it a whole lot better. I think this is really funny, but I came with the idea for this part drawing on a church bulletin during service, so yeah, I'm weird… This is kind of long but that's because it's a major turning part in the story and this is also where you begin to realize that I'm gonna be bringing the rating up in the farther on chapters…. Anyway thanks so much for the support and Thank you so much INSANITY RISE FOR EDITING AND ALMOST COMPLETELY REWRITING! **

**Insanity rise: Hello I am the editor! I am that little person who adds in all the pretty word play and puts the sprinkles on this pretty little chapter! WHOOT WHOOT! I didn't do a whole lot to the end of this chapter but the beginning was almost completely rewritten. Not to say Annie's writing isn't awesome or anything! She rocks! Anyway, I like to think I'm a better editor than the strange purple rabbit that lives under my bed…but I'm not sure…after all it went to college! Now sit back, enjoy and stay away from clowns! They are not normal people! WHOOT!**

**Chapter 16**

**KILL THE DEMON!**

The angry mob advanced towards the woods, their eyes blazing as well as the torches they held in their hands, their chants and calls striking courage in even the weakest of hearts as they continued through the dark night. No one noticed a trembling girl, on her knees in the middle of road, he crowds parted for her, but it was as though she wasn't even there, as though they part of a different world as they continued their condemning chant. Sakura sobbed uncontrollably as she staggered to her feet, feeling herself being pushed out of the way as a tall man scowled at her. She cried out and stumbled backwards, her eyes wide with fear as she gaped at the enraged crowd. There was nothing she could do, for even the slightest sound of her voice was enveloped in the mass of cries echoing through the trees, no one caring about one pleading woman as they prepared for what they felt they had to do. To Sakura, this was the stupidest thing she'd ever seen, barely able to take it in as she choked and sobbed. Even if these people found Sasuke, how could they possibly expect to defeat him? He'd nearly killed his brother with a single strike! How could they, some lowly townspeople, think to compete with the unimaginable powerful of one controlled by a thing that was considered a deadly curse? They were sealing their fates, asking for their own deaths as they clambered through the trees. She had to stop them, or she at least had to try!

"Please stop this madness! You'll all be killed!"

Sakura pleaded but a man simply pushed her out of his way with his pitchfork, again shunning the sobbing girl as though she were of most unimportance. With a startled cry, Sakura fell into the mud, tears welling in her eyes as the torches flames danced through her vision. This was hopeless, she didn't want the people to die, but at the same time, she didn't want them to kill Sasuke either though she knew the chances of him surviving such an impact from the cursed seal were ones she didn't want to think about. She stared at the crowd of people, watching the light from their torches grow dimmer as they disappeared into the thick woods.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as hung her head in defeat, her situation feeling unbearable hopeless.

"You're not giving up are you?" A voice from the darkness called, bringing her from her world of misery.

"HUH?" She suddenly looked up, wondering who had just spoken, hoping it was not someone trying to shove her out of the way again. Her eyes sparkled as she smiled at the figure standing in front of her. Zabuza held out his hand and helped her to her feet. She could tell he was smiling though she couldn't see it through his bandages. She could ask questions on where he had been later, right now…she had to save Sasuke…

"Well We've got to go after them. All those people are just asking for death if they think Sasuke won't kill them." Zabuza sighed, turning to leave, but Sakura stopped him.

"Where have you been! She demanded, " Haku's been worried sick!" Zabuza only looked at the ground sadly, feeling bad that he was putting his friend in pain.

"I've been thinking about it and I've decided that the only way to help Sasuke might be to fight him, so I'm ready." He showed her the large sword he held in his hands.

"You can't be serious!" He only shook his head.

"Show yourself dog!"

The people screamed as the entered the dark cave that Sasuke had been taking refuge in. A huge shower of rain suddenly began to pour outside, making a huge thudding sound on the roof as it fell harder. They peered into the darkness, hiding their fear as they lifted the torches higher. Sakura and Zabuza dashed through the forest, running as fast as possible as to catch up for their lost time.

"There's the cave!" Sakura cried and pointed to the rock formation in front of them. Her heart skipped a beat; there were dim lights in the cave, lights she knew could only be the townspeople, How could this be happening! She ran as fast as she could, the rain beginning to pour down even harder, clouding and dimming her view as she ran with Zabuza at her side.

"Oh please Sasuke, don't do this…" she cried as she struggled through the rain, the drops of mixing with her tears as she stared into the darkening sky.

The people looked around with fear filled eyes, the grip of agony not letting go, their hearts beating so quickly the could hear them thundering in their ears. They had never imagined a place so evil, the mere thought of it all chilled them to the bone.

Suddenly a figure stirred in the darkness, making the people jump with surprise as thunder played in the distance, lighting cracking through the dark sky. They could barely make out the form of whatever stood at the back of the cave, but they could see the dark smirk on his face as he glared at them with burning eyes.

"Dog am I?"

The evil Sasuke cackled to himself as he walked into the light of the troches. The scared people only stared at him with wide eyes, wondering why they had wanted to take on such a creature. They trembled with fear, skin draining of color as Sasuke revealed his new form to the people. They were just now beginning to realize how stupid this plan had been. Their pitchforks and torches stood no chance against this creature, quivering with fear as their minds screamed for mercy, mercy up until this point, they knew they couldn't possibly receive.

"So are you just going to stand there or will I have to slash off your heads first?" Sasuke laughed, the light of the torches creating a demonic glow over his blood stained figure, his massive claws cracking slightly as he raised them for the trembling people to see, his eyes blazing with a malicious laughter. His mind was intent on slaughtering them all, and he was bound to enjoy…he knew.

The people stood stock silent as they stared at the evil thing in front of them, the feeling of fear and the putrid smell of blood tainting them until they wished they could just close their eyes and die.

"STOP!" A woman's voice suddenly wrought them of their dark place of fear, giving them a flicker of courage, her voice like a match to a candle, giving them the courage to challenge the creature again.

"Don't fight!" Sakura cried as she and Zabuza entered the cave, help had arrived! Sasuke cursed under his breath, recognizing the nin and feeling his anger rising. He didn't want her getting caught up in all this.  
She stared at him with sad eyes, silently pleading for him to stop this madness. Sasuke gave her an angry glare.

"He'll only kill you!" Some one yelled from the crowd. However, Sakura was oblivious to their cries as she stared into those dark eyes with those of her own, showing as little fear as she could.

"Ha, one creature can't take on twenty men!" A man cried from the crowd waving his pitchfork through the air threateningly, attempting to rekindle the flames of hatred that had once seized them so violently.

"NO!"  
Sakura screamed as the man hurled his pitchfork at Sasuke. The weapon pierced through his right wing with a clash, throwing him back until he was pinned against the wall. Sakura fell to her knees. Zabuza drew his huge sword, knowing that this was the moment he had dreaded. He was the only one that stood any chance against Sasuke and the other people seemed to agree, for they stepped back as Zabuza took a fighting pose.

"I'm sorry Sakura but if we don't kill him, a lot of good people are going to get hurt!" Zabuza yelled to the wailing woman.

He was right though she hated to be torn between two friends. She could barely bear to watch as they prepared for the viscous onslaught to begin. Zabuza readied himself to fight, feeling terrible for doing this. He felt his muscles tighten, his brain on a stand still as he prepared for his attack.

"DIE DEMON!"  
Zabuza suddenly screamed as he ran at Sasuke, lifting his sword over his head to swing. Sakura could only look away, feeling almost ashamed of the tears she allowed to fall so freely.

Sasuke stared at him with wide eyes, he was trapped against the wall by the pitchfork. His heart was wrenched with dread, having no other options except to take the blow and hope that he could survive. However, something inside him was telling himself not to be afraid, some kind of dark power holding a tight grip around him. Zabuza swung his heavy sword with all his might hoping to take him out with one blow, but it wasn't going to be that easy. Sasuke was trapped, but he could still fight. The sword slashed across his chest with so much force that Zabuza fell back and was hardly able to keep his balance. Blood exploded from the wound as Sasuke tried to free himself from the wall, ignoring his pain completely. Zabuza fell back, sweat dripping down his face, he dropped his heavy sword, no longer able to hold such a burden, all his energy used up in the last swing. It took a lot of power to wield such a huge weapon. He breathed heavily as his sword suddenly began to shake as though a huge amount of force had been applied to it. Zabuza watched with wide eyes as the sword cracked.

The huge weapon shattered as if it was made of glass. Zabuza only stared in horror as his best weapon was destroyed. How could something like this happen? How could one blow destroy something that had lasted through countless duels, killed numberless men, and protected him until this point.

"No mere weapon can hurt me," Sasuke sneered as he gripped the pitchfork in his hand and pulled out as though it was nothing more than a splinter. No pain shown in his dark eyes as he dropped it to the ground, a quiet clang echoing in his ears. Zabuza only stared in horror, still stricken by the undoing of his favorite weapon.

"FIGHT ME FOOL!"

Sasuke screamed as he slashed his claws at Zabuza, the sheer speed of his approach making it unavoidable. Before Zabuza could think, he felt a burning pain engulfing his face, crimson playing through his vision as those already tainted claws came dangerously close.

"Zabuza look out!"

Sakura cried with agony as her friend was stricken by the dangerous claws. Blood exploded everywhere as Sasuke's claws slashed across Zabuza's face tearing off the bandages that covered his mouth. Zabuza fell backwards, glaring at the evil creature, as the bandages that once hid his sharp teeth were gone. He couldn't open one of his eyes due to the huge cut that now dripped down his face. It twitched uncontrollably as he scowled, the pain stinging him like a cage of needles. The pain was almost unbearable, his mind feeling clouded and his vision blurring to an extent that he could barely see the world around him. He could hear Sakura's cries and oh, how they pained him, wishing he hadn't gotten himself into his mess. How could he have thought that he could do something like this? How could he have expected everything to turn out right? He remembered Haku and how sad he'd be if he died here, he couldn't put him through that much pain, he just couldn't!

Zabuza wasn't down though without a left eye and a sword, he was pretty much useless. He had never been one to give up though. He was fighting for Haku; he was fighting to live! When this was all over, he could go home and see Haku's smiling face, and that would be enough for him.

"I may be down," he sighed as he lifted himself off the wet ground," but I'm not OUT!"

Sasuke was caught off guard as Zabuza jumped up, holding two kunai knives in his hands as he lunged at his enemy. Sakura only stared in horror. Her heart was torn between the one she loved and the one she didn't want to lose…

The knives pierced into Sasuke's back, he screamed with pain and slashed his claws at the air with rage, trying to hit Zabuza. Zabuza clung to the knives holding him behind the creature knowing that if he let go he'd be killed. He was suddenly knocked to the ground with so much force that blood trickled down his head. Yet he'd done his damage, the knives remained in Sasuke's back. Zabuza couldn't take much more of this, his body throbbed with pain and Sasuke was showing no signs of weakening. He stared at Sakura and peered into her tear-filled eyes feeling guilty and sad, no matter if he died or killed Sasuke, he was going to lose. While he was hesitating to kill Sakura's friend, Sasuke was coming at him with full force.

"You can't give up now."

He thought to himself as he searched for something he could use as a weapon by it seemed as though all he had was his fists, but it was better than nothing. Sasuke's clawed hand swiped at him again, but he stuck low to the cave floor trying to remain out of the reach of the evil creature. Sasuke's claws slashed at him over and over again, leaving deep wounds, but Zabuza was waiting for the right moment when he dropped his guard, he would attack. He'd noticed that every time Sakura had cried out a look of misery had shown in Sasuke's eyes and almost looked as though he might come out of this, but he couldn't take control.

"Sasuke PLEASE STOP!"  
Sakura pleaded from the sidelines as tears streamed down her cheeks. He looked over at her as though he was about to say something but he didn't get the chance. Zabuza lunged at him with his hand clenched into a tight fist. He slammed his fist into Sasuke's stomach knocking them both to the ground. Sasuke slid back, barely able to remain on his toes as he was thrown back. He collided into the wall and screamed with pain as the knives cut deeper into his back. Blood streamed down his back like a river as he leaned against the wall, eyes glowing red with hatred. Zabuza was on his knees, clutching his fist from pain. It felt as though Sasuke was made of bricks and when he'd punched him a swarm of pain had flashed through his weary body. He'd hit his limit, and there was only one more thing to do. Sasuke's eyes were beginning to close as he tried to pull the weapons out of his back, but he couldn't reach them. It felt as though all his energy and power was draining out with the blood. Zabuza stood up again, preparing his last resort. He had one weapon left, the sharp teeth that most ninja in the mist village possessed. Sasuke fell to his knees, cringing with immense pain; it was now or never.

"DIE!"

Zabuza lunged at him, sinking his teeth into his shoulder. Sasuke cried out with pain as he jumped up and lashed out at the man but he couldn't reach him. He was at his limit, his body screaming for defeat. Yet Sasuke wasn't giving up, for he had one more way to settle this. Zabuza felt blood in his mouth as his weary body was slammed against the cold stone wall, his vision a blast of shattered colors as the numbing pain engulfed him. But still, he couldn't let go, he couldn't give, even as Sasuke slammed him against the wall again and again, he refused to even slacken his grip. The town's people only stared in horror at the sight in front of them. A huge banging noise rang through the cavern as Zabuza was slammed against the wall. Blood was streaming down his face, but he refused to give in to the pain. This was too much for Sakura, she felt as though she might faint. Sasuke's attempts to free himself became more and more desperate as the pain continued to burn through him. His entire body felt numb and strained, he couldn't hold out like this any longer, death was the only answer; he had to make this stop. Zabuza closed his eyes, telling himself he'd done enough, telling himself he'd tried as he was thrown from Sasuke and slammed into the cold wall. A terrible wave of pain struck his back as he sunk into the shadows. A sickening silence followed the last bang as Zabuza was defeated. The people were so startled by what had just happened that they didn't know what to think. They stood in the entrance, eyes wide.

Suddenly a voice rang above the crowd, sending every one into overdrive.

"KILL THE DOG!" screamed and raised his pitchfork in the air threateningly. The voices of others echoed as they ran at Sasuke and Zabuza.

"NO!"

Sakura begged as the people stabbed Sasuke's broken figure with a pitchfork. She felt as though his pain was hers too, as though she could feel that pitchfork being stabbed into her as the people continued to chant. This wasn't going to happen; she wasn't going to lose him like this, not now! With a torn heart, she pulled herself to her feet. She leaned against the wall, her entire body feeling woozy, her stomach feeling sick. The people kicked Zabuza's torn figure as if he hadn't been the one who had just saved them from the evil creature they had come to slay. They were ungrateful and stupid.

"I won't lose you again. I won't let that happen."

She screamed and ran after the people.

"STOP THIS MADNESS!"

She pushed herself in front of her beloved as she pleaded. The people suddenly became very quiet as they stared at the crying girl. Sasuke fell into her arms. Tears of hurt and pain streamed down her cheeks as blood soaked through her clothes. A small smile curled on her lips as she stared into his eyes. He no longer looked like a lustful killer; he only looked like the Sasuke she would die for if necessary. He gave her weak smile, blood spilling from his deep wounds.

"Sasuke…"

Her eyes turned to the weapon in his stomach as she slowly gripped it in her shaking hands and prepared to pull it out. Sasuke cried out with pain as she ripped it out of his battered body. The weapon was thrown to the ground as she embraced him in her arms. The people only watched in awe.

Sakura could hear her heart pounding in her chest as she stared at his battered figure, he was dying and now she'd never be able to tell him how much she cared.

"Sak…Sakura…"

He cried out as if she was the only thing keeping him alive right now. He too had wanted to tell her things that he knew he'd never be able to explain in words. Staring up at her hurt eyes pained him more than the wounds.

"Sasuke please don't leave me…"

She cried, burying her head in his chest. His eyelids were beginning to droop and he was struggling to keep a hold of his own life. Every inch of his body seemed to want nothing more than death, but he was fighting it with all his might.

The people only stared in disbelief, Zabuza couldn't keep his eyes open as pain flowed through him and he leaned against the wall wishing he could have ended this sooner, wishing he wasn't the reason that Sakura was so sad.

"Sakura?"

"Huh?"

Sakura looked up into Sasuke's wounded eyes and cried, but there was something in his eyes that almost made her feel better, something about him seemed to comfort her in some way but she couldn't quite figure out why. This was it; he was going to die. Her eyes grew wide with surprise as he leaned over and kissed her. If this was the end than he might as well show her how much he really cared. Everything around her just seemed to melt away as though he was her whole world and she needed nothing more than Uchiha Sasuke to stay alive forever. The town's people were truly amazed at the scene in front of them. Sakura didn't care what happened, she now knew that Sasuke really loved her no matter what he said, the only thing she'd ever lived for had been hers all along. A calm feeling flooded over her as Sasuke's head fell back and he sank into her arms.

"No…"

She cried as she hugged him close, knowing that for once, he couldn't hear her cries…

---

Annie: This is sooo awesome!

Insanity rise: Yep, and I edited it at night!

Annie: Well peoples that's really all we have to say right now so Read and Review please! I might go work on my other story "Sparkling angels" right now, I'm not sure. And don't worry about Gaara and Itachi, they're coming!


	17. The return of Itachisama

**Annie:**

**Yo peoples! I got two kittens and their names are Haku and Blizzard and I love them so much so if you want to know anything about them just email me! I've been really down lately about the fact that I don't write as well as I used to, so I hope you think this part doesn't totally suck! I'm working on another story about Haku and Zabuza in dedication to my new kitties! So I hope I get to post that soon! Thanks to all the people who review and support me! Ut sadly enough, I always want more and since I haven't gotten any reviews lately I have decided to until I have twenty, I'm not going to continue…I'll go work on my newest story, which has not yet been posted. If you people actually want to read more, you'll have to tell me cause I'm tired of only one or two people reviewing the chapters when 40 people read them. It kills me because I have no idea what those 40 people think of my story! And since I have 17 chapters I think I can act a little bit stuck up, heehee, or whatever, hope you don't think I'm too stuck up or anything like that, I just wan peoples opinions! So hope you enjoy this chapter and don't even talk to me about Gaara, he's coming in and all hose other people are too so don't complain! I have a busy life especially because of these two new kittens, good news though I think Tillitah's coming over tomorrow so I'm gonna dedicate this chapter to her! YES I KNOW THIS IS A LONG CHAPTER! LIVE WITH IT! I STAYED UP TILL 2:00 LAST NIGHT AND WOKE UP AT 8:00 AND IM STILL GOING SO CHEER ME ON! or else I'll probably fall asleep and then I won't get to type cause my dumb sister will take the laptop and I'll never get it back! But good news, ever since my laptop got brokeded cause the screen got cracked really bad I've been sad but my wonderful da is going to fix it so he's just awesome!**

**Dedicated to: Tillitah and my daddy cause you're gonna fix Dell( my laptop, no he is not named after the company, but that's a different story)**

**Chapter 17**

**Itachi's return**

Itachi limped into the Akatsuki's hidden lair. Blood splattered the ground as he struggled to get to the only place he could call his home. As soon he pulled back the front door, he fell in to the darkness, too exhausted to take another step. The journey back here had been neither fun nor easy. He laid on the cold floor breathing heavily, a cold pain sweeping over him.

He couldn't believe he'd lost to his brother like that; it wasn't fair. He didn't care for those stupid seals and he knew they were only put on the ones who weren't strong enough to realize their true power, but he hated knowing that Orochimaru had put one on Sasuke knowing he'd go up against his brother. Did Orochimaru want him dead? One more hit and he would have been dead that was for sure. He'd barely had the strength left to make it back here, but at least he'd done away with Mizukage so Orochimaru would be happy. He was tired of running errands for Orochimaru and now all he wanted was to lie here and bleed. He felt pitiful and weak; beaten down by his own brother; it humiliated him.

"You okay?"

He rolled over on his back so he could see who else was in the room. He looked up into the yellow eyes of Kisame and sighed. He was half hoping it would be Orochimaru so he could tell him what he thought about his little "go kill the kages for me now" idea. He wanted some time away from the Akatsuki and he was going to get it. He held out his hand.

"Don't just stand there, help me up!"

Kisame sighed and pulled Itachi to his feet but Itachi was in no shape to even stand. He fell back almost causing both of them to fall to the floor. Kisame sighed, why did he always get stuck in these situations? He stood up so Itachi wouldn't fall over again and put his arm over his shoulder so they both wouldn't lose their balance.

"Come on I'll get ya to your room."

Itachi sighed with relief as he limped along letting Kisame help carry his weight.

"What happened?"

Kisame stared at Itachi's bloody figure and couldn't but wonder who could do such a thing saying that Itachi was said to be the strongest Ninja in all of Japan.

"Orochimaru put a seal on Sasuke and you probably know what happened next, I hate those things."

He spat as they struggled through the empty corridors.

"He beat ya bad, eh? Orochimaru only gives those seals to the weaklings so don't feel bad."

That almost made Itachi laugh because Kisame was pretty much on the weak list, he didn't amount to much but over the years he'd been one of the only people who stayed with the Akatsuki. Itachi had always wondered why though because Orochimaru wasn't exactly the nicest person to work for. Kisame wasn't like Itachi though; if he was given orders, he followed them while Itachi was only called on for things that had proved too hard for the others since he was way above their league. Kisame feared Orochimaru while Itachi thought of him as just another loser he could kill easily but he knew that if he tried to go up against Orochimaru he'd get a seal put on him. Orochimaru had told him before that putting a seal on him was too dangerous and he would die with the first few minutes, unable to withstand his own power his heart would probably burst.

Kisame was normally a pretty nice person though like right now for instance, no one else in the Akatsuki would have helped Itachi. Everyone else would have laughed even Orochimaru. That made him remember that he needed to tell him about the Mizukage, but right now he was too tired, he'd worry about that tomorrow. A trail of blood lingered behind them as Kisame struggled to carry Itachi.

"Thank you Kisame."

Itachi choked as they reached his door. Kisame let go of him and Itachi fell against the door.

"SORRY!"

Kisame pleaded for forgiveness praying he wouldn't be yelled at, but Itachi was silent.

"Itachi-sama?"

Itachi groaned and sunk to the ground, blood dripping from his face.

"ITACHI-SAMA!"

Itachi woke up in a cold room. He had no idea where he was and he couldn't even remember what had happened. He tried to sit up but he felt cold metal holding him down against what he thought was the floor. What was going on? He tried to rip out of the shackles but his energy and strength were gone. He gave into defeat.

He could hear what sounded like someone walking against the stone ground but his head throbbed with pain and it was hard to hear anything.

"They'll be headed for the hidden stone village next, and you'll be waiting for them there, understand Kisame."

Itachi recognized the twisted voice of Orochimaru.

"But sir, why not send Itachi-sama? I can't go up against them!"

Kisame was right; they would kill him easily. He had never before went against Orochimaru's orders but going after Sasuke and Sakura would be like suicide. Itachi tried to listen in on the conversation as best as he could but it had suddenly dawned on him where he was. He was in Orochimaru's laboratory but why was he chained in here? His eyes grew wide as he pulled on the chains frantically; he knew what happened to those souls that ended up in here. He made sure not to make too much noise though, he didn't want to draw attention to himself but he was getting more and more desperate. The chains refused to break as he pulled on them with all his might but he was running on empty, he could have easily gotten out of here if he wouldn't have gone against Sasuke. This was terrible, he wasn't about to let Orochimaru do to him what had happened to the last member who had been chained to this very room. He'd die or worse. He couldn't forget the bone chilling screams that often came from this room or the many animals that had died because of the terrible experiments tested on them. He tried again to free himself but it was hopeless.

Tears of fear and pain burned in his eyes as he cried out praying he'd find a way out of here. It was like being poisoned, you knew you were going to die but first you'd have to wait for it and that would be the worst time of your entire life.

"Kisame, Itachi might be out for awhile."

He could sense the malicious edge in Orochimaru's voice.

"What do you mean sir?"

Kisame was confused but more importantly, he didn't want to go.

"Do you remember what happened when Diedara tried to take my life?"

Kisame's eyes grew wide remembering the terrible screams that had played in his head when one of the Akatsuki's more worthless members was torn apart from the inside, it was all part of Orochimaru's "ultimate power" complex. He'd always been trying to find a way to alter the human body to when one person could be completely invincible but everyone he'd tried the experiment on had died within the first five minutes. The whole thing would be wasting Itachi's life.

"But sir he'll die."

"Itachi is more than strong enough to withstand the experiment, you shouldn't doubt me so much Kisame."

Kisame wanted to scream that he was wrong, he hated killing people for no reason and this would be pure torture for the Akatsuki member especially when he had done nothing wrong to deserve such a thing.

"I guess I could go to the stone village I know there's a sword smith there that could make me a better sword."

Kisame sighed remembering his broken weapon. Orochimaru nodded.

"You'll leave as soon as you come, and Kisame, you needed worry about Sasuke, if the seal hasn't already killed that traitor he's at least in no position to fight you, I want him dead."

Kisame was happy that he'd been given such an important task but he was still afraid of what might happen. He was no match for Sasuke or anyone else that they might have picked up on the way.

"Now, leave me."

Kisame sighed and left the dark room hoping he wouldn't have to go back there for a while. At least he wouldn't be around to see Itachi die. He admired Itachi and he didn't want him to die such a meaningless death.

"Now what to do with you?"  
Orochimaru turned to Itachi with an evil grin on his face. Itachi continued to struggle, doing his best to try to break free of the chains that held him down to the cold concrete.

"Now you really shouldn't struggle so much, it only makes it worse you know."

"LET ME GO!"

Itachi ordered, pulling against the shackles until the metal began to cut into his skin fighting back against his desperate attempts for freedom. He could hear a strange shuffling noise as Orochimaru searched about his dark workspace for the tools that he wanted. Itachi looked around into the darkness but it was hard to see anything. He caught the glittered of a light reflecting of a blade in the corner of his eye and only tried to break free again. The chains around his wrists were scraping his skin as he pulled causing his wrist to burn with pain.

"LET ME GO!"

He screamed again, he didn't care about what happened as long as he got out of here before it was too late.

"KISAME! KISAME HELP!"  
He cried as Orochimaru grabbed a white cloth and bound it around his mouth so he would shut up. Itachi bit at the fabric trying to tear it off but it was no use.

Now no one could hear him, this was it. He knew he'd die in some stupid way like this but he'd never imagined it to be so cruel. He ripped at the chains one last time praying to hear the sound of them breaking but it was no use, he had no strength left, he couldn't break free.

"Oh calm down Itachi, you're not going to die."

That was a lie. Orochimaru smirked evilly as Itachi's eyes grew wide, in his hands was a knife already stained with blood. It suddenly dawned on him what had happened, Itachi looked down with fear filled eyes and saw his bleeding stomach.

"Haku," Sakura cried as the black-haired boy dashed into the blood-splattered cave, she knew she had to think fast if she hoped to keep Sasuke alive," oh thank goodness you're here!"

"Sakura," Haku gasped, out of breath from his rush to the cave, "I saw the villagers, what happened?"

"No time to explain," Sakura looked back at th injured figures of her friends, "stay with them while I try and find a doctor!"

"Huh," Haku was perplexed, gaping at the bloody scene before him.

"I don't care what you do just keep them alive," Sakura cried as she dashed out into the rain and darkness. Haku opened his mouth to say something, but didn't get the chance. He sighed as Sakura disappeared into the darkness. He turned to Sasuke, who'd been wheezing and choking ever since he'd entered the cave. The sight of Sasuke's torn body was too much to handle, Haku gritted his teeth and looked away when his eyes fell upon the pitchfork lying discarded near Sasuke's body, knowing where it had struck from the gaping wound into Sasuke's stomach. The bloody-covered weapon obviously having caused the hurt boy immense pain. Haku felt useless, he could do nothing to ease the boy's pain. He could only watch as life slipped away.

"Haku…," Haku jumped at the sound of the familiar voice.

"Zabuza-san!" Haku cried and rushed to the blood-covered man. Zabuza smirked weakly, choking on the blood bubbling in his throat.

"What happened," Haku whimpered, dreading watching the only person he'd ever been accepted by die.

"S-Sasuke," Zabuza coughed, "is…he alright?"

"Zabuza-san," Haku cried, tears falling from his eyes and ignoring the man's question.

"Sakura went to find a doctor just hold on," Haku whimpered, tearing off his sleeve and using it to wipe the blood of the injured man's face. The fabric made little difference, stained with blood in only seconds. Haku cried, wishing he was anywhere but here, wishing this had never happened. He heard Sasuke groan with pain from nearby. Zabuza choked and coughed, the sight and sounds of the entire scene making Haku feel sick. He closed his eyes, too stunned to say anything. He now realized how desperate the situation was.

"Oh Sakura," he whimpered, "Please hurry."

Sakura stumbled through the dark street, tears burning in her eyes. She had to find a doctor, and fast if she ever expected to see Sasuke again. She called out but there was no one else out in the rain. In desperation, she hurried up to a nearby home and knocked on the door. A sleepy-eyed woman sighed and opened the door.

"Do you know where I can find a doctor," Sakura whimpered.

"Is someone hurt," the perplexed woman asked.

"Please I can't answer questions, someone may die, I just need to know where a doctor can be found!"

"There isn't a hospital here, but there is a woman who acts as a doctor, she lives at the edge of the wood," the woman yawned.

"Oh thank you so much," Sakura smiled weakly before dashing off into the night. It took her a short time to find the small house, though to her it felt like hours. She banged on the door, her body completely exhausted. At first there was no answer, but Sakura could here the footsteps of someone behind the door. The door opened to reveal a small, delicate looking woman with long black hair, the woman smiled warmly though she seemed rather surprised.

"Hello, may I help you," the woman shivered from the sudden cold.

"Please, I heard you have medical knowledge," Sakura whimpered, "There are two people who could be dying right now, Sasuke Uchiha and Zabuza Momochi, they need your help!"

"Wha," the woman's eyes grew wide when she heard the names, she prepared to slam the door but Sakura's crying stopped her.

"Please," Sakura cried.

"Why would you even think I would help demons," the woman spat, "don't think I'm stupid enough to not know of who you speak of."

"You don't understand," Sakura couldn't believe she was about to be turned down, "they're dieing if something isn't done quickly."

"I….," the women looked down at the ground, her kind nature overpowering her hatred, "I…oh, just take me to them."

"You mean you'll help," Sakura could have just hugged the woman.

"Let me get my bag," the woman dashed away and quickly came back with a large black bag, "let's go!"

---

Annie: ITACHI-SAMA! THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE ITACHI IS TO REVIEW! SO YOU MUST SAVE HIM AND CLICK ON THAT LITTLE PUPRLE BOX IN THE CORNER OR ELSE SOMETHING BAD MIGHT HAPPEN…………0.O


	18. The will to let go

**Annie: Okay ignore my stuck up plea for reviews cause I'm writing anyways! Ha! So like yeah! On this part I tried to get angsty so please tell me if you think its good. I was listening to "Even in death" by: evanescence and it really helped then suddenly I started listening to Breaking Benjamin which really killed my sad mood so this ended kinda weird. So here it is for all you lucky readers! Good news, yesterday I drew a really cool poster for part two of this story cause It's got my fav. Character in it- or perhaps I've said too much…, but yeah its on my wall and I wish you could see it, but alas, my skill goes by unnoticed…**

**Chapter 18**

**The will to let go…**

On a small bridge outside of the mist village, a pink haired girl leaned against the railing. The cold wind flowing through her seemed to calm her down abit but there were tears in her eyes. Sakura couldn't take much more of this torture. She couldn't help but remember all those days when she'd wanted to see Sasuke so badly and now it seemed as though she wished he'd never come back then maybe he wouldn't be in so much pain. She couldn't help but blame her self for what happened. She told herself that she could have done more, she could have saved them, but some how, she was held back. She leaned over the railing of the bridge and peered into the dark water below. Her sad reflection greeted her from the dark waters, she only sighed and tore away from the edge, not willing to look at her own reflection.

"You worried about Sasuke, eh?"

She turned around to see Haku smiling in the darkness. His calm face made her feel better, but no smile could heal her wounds. Her eyes darted to the horizon beyond the mist village, into the distance.

"Even if he survives, I'll have to take him back to Kakashi to break the seal, and I know what he'll say, he won't let Sasuke come with me to the other villages. So either way, I'm going to lose." She said sadly, shaking her head and hiding her tears,

Haku gave her a warm smile, he felt her pain but more tears weren't going to do any good for this situation. He walked up to her and wiped her tears with his hand gently.

"Tears won't heal their wounds, but a smile never did any wrong."

She looked into his soft face and couldn't help but agree, she never knew Haku could speak such noble words. These days she'd been figuring out many things lately.

He put his elbows on the cold railing and peered into the darkness just as Sakura had.

"I have a feeling that they'll both pull out of it okay."

With Zabuza and Sasuke both out, they were both suffering and praying that they wouldn't lose a valuable friend.

"Cheer up, you wouldn't want Sasuke to see you crying would you?" Haku asked.

"You're right, thanks Haku."

She sighed and wiped her tears away, biting her lower lip from anticipation. She hated this; all they could do was wait around for the news. Sasuke and Zabuza either died or lived there were no other options. Sakura felt the cold wind ripping at her hair as the moon shown brightly in the sky. She looked up into the starlit sky and couldn't help but wonder if Tsunade and Kakashi were staring up at the same sky too. She missed her friends and family desperately and she felt as though she needed a break from death and hurt, maybe it would be better if she went home. Maybe she should just let Kakashi find someone else to complete this mission, if Sasuke died, she'd be useless on her own. She had always been a healer, not a fighter, and Haku wouldn't want anything to do with her if Zabuza died.

"You should go to him you know." Haku inquired, sensing her unease.

"What?" Sakura asked, her cheeks blushing a bit noticing that Haku could easily see how she felt.

"If you miss him so badly as you will come out here and stand in the cold then you should just go in and see how he's doing." Haku said smartly, glancing down at the cold waters beneath, his eyes not meeting Sakura's. She gave him a puzzled look. Haku didn't normally act like this and it kind of scared her but at the same time, he made her feel a lot better.

"I guess you're right," she sighed and took once last look at her reflection and then disappeared into the dark streets, heart bent on seeing Sasuke.

"Hello Sakura-san," a kind woman greeted Sakura as she entered the small house that had proven haven for Sasuke and Zabuza. She felt very awkward being here and it almost made her feel like leaving, the smiling woman in front of her sharing a happiness she knew she could never posses.

"Are you here to see Sasuke and the other one?" she asked, the long silence following her first greeting making her feel uneasy. Sakura only nodded, at a complete loss for words. She wasn't sure if she should thank the woman or just burst out crying and she didn't feel like talking to anyone that looked that happy in the said situation. So she was completely silent as she was led down a dark hallway.

The walls around her were large, creating huge gaping shadows in the corners of the rooms and shrouding the untouched doors in their eerie blackness filling the place with mystery and thrill. However, Sakura had no wanting to figure out what might be behind those doors and she knew how rude it would to ask, so se just kept her mouth shut and walked quietly behind the woman. She gingerly moved through the shadows, the only light guiding her was the small candle her escort held her hands.

Chills ran up Sakura's spine, an ominous wind blowing past her, one that seemed to only fold on top of the mysteries of this dark place. She kept telling herself she was doing this for Sasuke and that was enough to calm her down abit. She was doing her best not to let her imagine get the better of her, for then she might turn around and leave and then she'd never see Sasuke.

She bit her lower lip with anticipation as the woman stopped in front of one of the doors and quickly opened it. Without a word she escaped into the dark room, her candle light disappearing from Sakura's view, leaving her alone in the chilling hallway. Sakura skipped into the room quickly, having no wanting to be left to stand in shadows. The moment she entered the room she felt sorry. The rancid smell of death and decay floated around this room like drift wood in water, flowing all over, refusing to sink and leave the world to smell clean again. The entire room was as dark as the hallways and as cold too, a large window in one corner opened up, its curtains flowing back and forth as the unsteady breeze pushed them in their ghostly dance.

Sakura hugged her shoulders, suddenly feeling very cold as she searched out Sasuke in the darkness. A small gasp escaped hr lips as her eyes fell upon the man, almost turning away, her face twisted with sympathy and disgust. He was lying on a bed next to one of the walls, covered in blood stained bandages. A large blanket draped over his beaten figure. One of his arms hung limply over the bed, dangling inches above the ground.

At first, she feared that he was dead, but as she took a few reluctant steps forward, she was able to hear his heavy breathing above the wind, his sleep fitful and dark, the world of evil he had escaped to providing him no comfort. Sakura found a small smile twisting unto her lips as she felt bitter tears rolling down her pale cheeks.

She forgot all about the woman lighting the candles on a desk next to her and fell to her knees next to Sasuke's bed, her bare legs hitting the cold floor and sending more chills over her. She felt so weak and helpless, knowing there was nothing she could do to help him except comfort him as he fought for the life that was escaping from his grasp quickly.

"Oh Sasuke," she sobbed with despair, her pink hair falling over her face as she let her head hang low with defeat, " you can't leave me now…" she felt like she was talking to no one, her voice unheard by the man lying in front of her. She took his hand in hers, feeling his hot flesh, which only made her heart ache more, and more.

"We've got to go warn the other Kage's, our job isn't finished here, don't you see, you've just got to hold on a little longer." It wasn't fair. The day he finally admitted his love for her, he was dying! Why could she never be greeted with happiness for one day, just one day was all she asked for and even that seemed to be asking for a million dollars now a days.

"Sakura…" she looked up, hearing his voice, taking her out of her world of wrought sadness as she saw his black eyes staring up at the ceiling.

"I'm not going anywhere…"

---

Annie: I tried to get descriptive on that last part so please tell me what you think. I'm gonna stop saying please review everytime cause it doesn't happen.


	19. Black Flowers

**Annie: Hiya peoples! I forgot to mention that my dad fixed my laptop screen because it used to have a huge scratch running all across it and it was really annoying but now its all fixed so I'm really happy. Gaara and Temari are in this chapter so yeah! Review please, it really isn't that hard, all you need to do is go down to the bottom of this page (after you finished reading the chapter of course) and then click the little purple bottom and then you shall bring joy to my heart, so yes that would be cool because I would write faster which means you would get to figure out what happened faster so we would all win……wow that was a long sentence. **

**Chapter 19 **

**Black flowers**

"So we'll head off for Konoha tomorrow morning." Sakura exclaimed to her friends. Haku sat next to Zabuza on the docks just outside the mist village, his friend wrapped tightly in bandages. Zabuza stared into the dark water below him, his eyes looking far off and distant, lost in thought, ignoring her words completely. Haku, on the other hand, was listening intently to every word that left her mouth.

"So you heard about what happened to the Mizukage," Zabuza said sadly, shattering Sakura's happy mood and sending a grave look unto her face," Itachi killed him…and now no body knows what to do, they'll probably elect some idiot and then the whole village will be destroyed just like when Gotto was here. Serves um right." He snickered with cruel humor, making Sakura wonder whose side he was one. Haku gave him a surprised look and then turned back to Sakura.

"So what are you guys gonna do in Konoha?" he asked, his eyes a secret plea, wanting more then anything to go with them. Sakura gave him a funny look, wondering why he would ask such a question, but Sasuke detected the begging look in his hazel eyes.

"You want to come don't you!" He asked from his spot next to Sakura.

"Really? I could!" Haku bounded, his voice sounding a lot happier than he had a few days ago. Sakura smiled, overjoyed to see everyone beginning to act like normal again and though it would take a while for everyone's wounds to heal, with time, things would be right again. Haku's face lit up with glee and excitement. He'd never left the mist village before and the thought of going some place else thrilled him. He quickly calmed down though, not wanting to make a complete fool of himself or act childish.

"We could use an extra hand, especially with Sasuke in this state," Sakura inquired, much to Sasuke's annoyance. He didn't like it when she fussed over him.

Haku smiled, his face brimming with the happiness that Sakur had thought he'd lost and for once, the innocence in his face had returned. Truly, things were going to get back to normal, or so they thoughts…

Everyone in the mist village was completely shaken up, news of the death of their beloved Mizukage finally reaching their ears, they were all on silent panic mode. People tried to go on with their daily activities like normal, but it was easy to see, they were scared. No one had any idea what would now become of the mist village and they were all terrified by the sudden uncertainty. No one seemed to notice as two more figure raced down the half-empty streets.

Temari gripped unto her brother's arm tightly, pulling him forward as she dashed down the streets of the mist village, ignoring the sides glance she was receiving from the passing people. Gaara groaned as he pulled against his will his feet barely hitting the ground as Temari lugged him forward with all her strength. Sweat rolled down his face and his skin was a ghostly pale, the poison's effects clearly visible on his face as they ran. Temari was desperate to find this stupid cure and get back home. Yesterday they had spent the entire day asking people if they knew anything about poisons made in mist village or the flowers that grew here, and they'd been pointed in the same direction each time. Maya's flower shop, the people had told her do know that was where she was headed at such a fast pace. Gaara hadn't complained much though he found all this pushing extremely annoying and he was eager to get back home, worried that Kankurou had brought the whole Sand village into flames by now.

"There it is!" Temari exclaimed with glee as she read a small sign hanging above on the shops labeled "Maya's floral shop". Her heart skipped a beat as she stopped her fast run, thrusting Gaara forward; the sudden stop did him no good. If Temari hadn't have been holding his arm, Gaara would have fallen into the dirt. He glared at her with annoyance, but didn't say anything as she pushed the door open and entered the shop. A pair of shining bells hung above the door and they twinkled as she opened the door, a small chiming sound filing the empty shop as they entered.

Inside the place smelled of many different flowers, giving the place a powerful aroma that made Gaara feel sick. He glared around at the many different colored flowers growing in every direction and ended up crossing his arms, annoyed and embarrassed at being in a place like this.

"Stop acting like such a baby," Temari sneered as she drug him forward again, much to his annoyance.

"Hello?" She called, looking around and wondering where the shop keeper might be. Suddenly an older looking woman appeared out of the mess of flowers and greeted them with a smile. Her clothes were stained with grass and dirt and her entire appearance didn't look very well kept, all the same, she did have a nice smile.

"Can I help you two?" she asked in a low voice, eyeing the two ninja with puzzled eyes.

"Um yes," Temari tried her best to sound friendly," we were wondering if any of the flowers in this village were poisonous. You see after a…strange amount of events my brother here was poisoned and all the cards led us here." The woman's eyes darted to the tired looking Gaara noticing how bad he looked.

"Well there's one that I know of," the woman motioned for them to follow her as she turned and disappeared behind a large door leading into another huge room filled with smelly flowers. Temari scoffed her surroundings, sharing the same for those delicate things as her brother did.

"I can get you a antidote," the woman said kindly but there was a funny twist to her voice, one Temari didn't like at all and she sensed that this was too easy.

Then the words she had expected came.

"But it will cost you," the woman smiled as she reached into one of the flower gardens and pulled out a purple and black flower, smiling as the stem snapped and the delicate things fell into her small hands.

"How much?" Temari asked, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at the smiling woman.

"Where you from?" the woman asked, completely ignoring Temari's question.

"Sunagakure," Temari growled in a matter-of-factly tone, receiving another twisted smile fro the woman.

"I thought so," she cooed, her face still holding that brimming with happiness look that Temari didn't enjoy one bit," then for you it's 100,000 yen, no more, no less." Temari would have hit her if she wasn't the only hope they had right now. She knew that that price was outrageous for a flower and she was only charging so high because she knew they had no choice. Gaara only bit his lower lip, his vision blurring as his head began to ring with pain again, more sweat dripping down his face. Suddenly a dark thought entered his mind, one so wicked that it caused a cruel smile of brim on his pale face, one that Temari noticed. She winked at him and he nodded, both their faces alight with malicious humor.

"Of course we'll pay you," Gaara snickered In a cold, icy voice," of course."


	20. One word: Home

Annie: This is sort of an explaining chapter meaning they talk a lot, but that doesn't mean you should skip it. This was one of those chapters that I had to go back and edit saying I rote it like four months ago! So it seems kind of rushed because I wanted to get it over with. Don't worry though, Gaara and Itachi are gonna come back in so don't complain about it. However, so big changes are going to happen pretty soon so hold on people. This includes a few of my more twisted ideas…so like yeah the rating is going to soar up….. Anyway thanks for all the reviews and please keep them coming. It really sucks though that I didn't know very much about this show or th people when I wrote some of this so I get to go edit everything! Yeah…fun, not, but anyway I'm trying. Oh and if you're wondering why it seems to talk about Naruto a lot, that's cause in the next chapter I shall explain his death. So that's for anyone who has been wondering, the answers are coming!

**Chapter 20**

**One word: Home**

Sakura let out a sigh of relief as the gates to the Leaf village came into view. Traveling down the dusty roads with two hurt comrades hadn't been fun for her at all. Haku and Sasuke had been limping along but they'd made slow progress throughout the entire trip but she couldn't help that. She was hoping Tsunade would have something to give to Sasuke to help numb down his pain a little, there had been nothing like that in the Mist village.

Zabuza had stayed behind letting his wounds heal up and looking into where he might be able to go to get a new sword but Haku had been more than a little curious on what the Leaf village might be like. He gladly agreed to accompany her back to her home. But Sasuke, on the other hand, had begged not to go back.

He'd told her he'd be fine with or without the seal but Sakura wasn't one to take chances. She was taking him to the only one she knew who could get rid of that seal, Kakashi-san. The copy ninja was the only one who could help Sasuke right now though she knew it was going to hurt him. She could remember Kakashi lecturing her about the seals and how they worked, he'd also explain to her how powerful they were and how it was nearly impossible to remove one without feeling pain.

Besides that she'd wanted to come and see how Neji was doing anyway so this would work out just fine. The peaceful and calm atmosphere of the leaf village made her feel like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. It felt good to know that she didn't have to be on edge in a place like this.

She led Haku and Sasuke through the town. They received a few side-glances from people wondering why a girl and two hurt looking boys were walking through the town as soon as they recognized that it was Sakura and Sasuke many felt more at ease. They had been wondering where the future Hokage had been lately and ever since the news of Sasuke's return many had wondered if it was a lie. Haku also felt at ease here because no one was looking at him as if he was outcast. He enjoyed the business and liveliness of the whole place. It reminded him of how he'd always wanted the mist village to be, a place that felt like home even when you didn't live there.

"NEJI!" Sakura waved as she noticed her friend sitting on a crate outside his home. He'd been enjoying the nice day. He was still wrapped up in bandages though. He leaned back against the crate, his eyes looking tired, but face looking happy. Sakura waved as she fought through the crowds to reach him, Haku and Sasuke at her heels.

"Hey Sakura." Neji greeted as the tired group reached him.

"Beautiful day ain't it? It's nice to see you guys came back okay," Neji stared at Sasuke who was leaning against Haku for support," well sort of."

"We had a few run-ins with Itachi, how are you feeling?" Sakura quickly changed the subject, giving no wanting to talk about such terrible things on a day like this, besides, it looked like Neji hadn't healed up all the way and she didn't want him to try to get involved.

"Better but I still haven't even been able to leave the house. My aunt is keeping an eye on my every second but Tsunade says in a couple weeks the burns will be completely healed and I'll be free to go on with my normal life." He still had a bright look on his face even though she could sense the sadness in his voice.

"My aunts even knitting me a new jacket though she says its stupid that I want one now because its so hot but summers already half over."

Neji was wearing a navy blue vest instead of his normal tan jacket; his vest was only zipped up halfway showing his bandaged chest. It was kind of strange seeing Neji in something else saying he'd used to always where that faded jacket.

"You wouldn't believe how much Hinata fussed over me, I'm happy that she's finally letting me relax abit."

Sakura smiled she was happy that Neji was taking the whole thing so well but since Tsunade had informed her that there had been no internal damage she knew he'd heal up without worry. She'd only worried that his burns might get infected but it was obvious that he was healing up fast.

"How is she?" Sakura asked.

"Who Hinata? As cheery as ever though she was never been the same since…"

Neji voice trailed off as he saw the devastated look on Sasuke's face, he knew he was about to say, "Since Naruto died."

"And how you faring Sasuke-kun looks like you haven't had the funniest trip?" Neji felt bad for even mentioning the incident and wanted to quickly change the subject to something that wouldn't make them all feel bad.

"I'm fine; this is Haku from the mist village."

Sasuke pointed to Haku, jumping to his own defense, not wanting Neji's pity.

Haku smiled and Shook Neji's hand. Sakura finally felt as though she was home. Everyone looked so happy it was as if they were kids again.

"We should get going; we need to speak with Kakashi-sama as soon as possible." Sasuke said impatiently.

"Why do you need to go see him so badly?"

Neji wondered. Sakura pointed to the seal on Sasuke's neck.

"That happened."

She sighed.

"Well stay safe, come back and visit me!"

Neji called as they started walking back down the path towards the Hokage's headquarters. Haku was getting tired of carrying his weight and Sasuke's.

"We can rest as soon as we get to see Kakashi, we'll head to my house."

Sakura heard him sigh with relief, it was getting hotter and hotter out here and the three really did need some rest. They pushed the two huge doors to the Hokage's headquarters open and stepped into the cold room.

They had to walk up a few flights of stairs but pretty soon they reached the Hokage's office. Tsunade automatically greeted them with a smile as soon as they entered the room.

"Good day Hokage."

Sakura said politely as they entered the room. She felt relieved as soon as she saw that Kakashi was here, she had been hoping that they wouldn't have to go looking for him.

Haku recognized the copy ninja immediately and felt uneasy around the man remembering when he and Zabuza had fought against the ninja years ago.

"I see you've been to the Mist village seeing that you have a mist village ninja in your presence."

Tsunade smiled warmly making Haku feel a lot better. Sasuke tore away from Haku so he wouldn't look weak because he was having such a hard time standing but he could barely keep his balance without someone to lean against. He didn't like being here at all, it reminded him that if Naruto was still alive, he would have been the Hokage here now. Haku only sighed.

"Looks as though you haven't had the easiest of a journey, please tell me what has become of the Mizukage?" Tsunade asked, resting her chin on her hands.

"Hokage ma'am, sadly by the time we got there he was already dead. Itachi-sama took him out but we did manage to wound him greatly." Sakura groaned.

A silence followed after her voice, everyone had been happy up to her last words.

"Well at least you've managed to stay alive, you'll just have to get to the stone village faster than Itachi."

Sakura nodded.

"We came here to talk with Kakashi-sama, is it alright of we step outside for a few minutes?" Kakashi gave Sakura a puzzled look, wondering why she might want to speak with him, but judging by the strange way the other two were acting he knew there had to be a good reason.

"Sure."

Kakashi said reluctantly. It seemed as though Sakura always went to him with her problems. He followed the three outside the room. It was a shock that the Mizukage was dead and it had left everyone a little dazed. No one said a word as Sakura and the others departed from the room, Tsunade staring down at the ground with sad eyes and the others around her stock silent.

"So, what do you need?" Kakashi asked as he leaned against the wall next to a large window overlooking the leaf village.

"It's Sasuke." Sakura sighed, she grabbed his arm but he pulled away from her. Kakashi seemed to read her mind, as usual.

"Let me guess, a seal?"

Kakashi had noticed the markings on Sasuke's neck. He gave him a mean glare.

"Yes." Sasuke growled angrily, his eyes challenging the older man.

"Kakashi we came to ask you to seal it again, if you can." Sakura gave Sasuke a slight jab with her elbow, wiping the mean glare off his face and replacing it with one of annoyance.

Kakashi sighed with dread.

"I might be able to but it'll delay you a few days. Sasuke how long have you had it?" He asked the angry ninja.

"Since two days before we left for the Mist village." Sasuke mumbled, not wanting to talk about it at all, but it seemed like people wouldn't stop bothering him. Orochimaru had reopened the spell mark as soon as he learned of Sasuke's little trip to Konoha the day he told them of his plot. Sasuke hadn't told anyone, not wanting to be a burden to his friends.

"And you didn't tell me then?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

Sasuke just shrugged his shoulders. He hadn't wanted to come crying to Kakashi because he would do anything to make sure he wasn't being thought of as weak. He had too much pride to ask someone for help.

"I didn't think it was serious." He sighed flatly.

"Well believe me it is, that thing could kill you if you're not careful, tell me how did you guys get so beat up?" Kakashi smarted.

The bandages on Sasuke and Haku had roused his suspicions.

"We got into a little trouble," Sakura sighed, "you see when Sasuke went up against his brother the seal reacted and he lost control. Zabuza had to go up against him and they were nearly killed." She summarized it in the easiest way possible.

"As I thought, what you described as not a serious problem almost killed you."

Kakashi sneered. He found it amusing how Sasuke always seemed to think he was better than everyone else though he knew his arrogance could get him into some serious trouble. Sasuke couldn't met his eyes, his black pupils falling down to his shoes.

"Listen, closing up one of those seals is easier said than done last time I did it I barely had the energy to stand saying it puts great strain on both people, but I'm willing though afterwards you need to get straight to the stone village as quickly as you can. If we lose another Kage than Orochimaru might be able to put his plan into action. Our future is resting in your hands and you've got to take this seriously! For the time being you guys should go down to the hospital and get some treatment for those wounds, we've got better medical supplies than the mist village and you don't look all that healthy."

Sakura nodded and started off down the hall with the other two at her heals.

"Wait a second! Sasuke you're coming with me aren't you?" Kakashi snapped, much to Sasuke's dread.

"I'd rather-"

Sakura jabbed Sasuke in the side knowing he was about to say no, he sighed and followed after Kakashi, looking back as Sakura and Haku left, wishing he was anywhere but here.

"See ya later."

Sakura sighed as he left. She hoped he'd be okay but she knew Sasuke wasn't going to make this very easy on Kakashi. Haku followed close behind her, wondering the same things as they disappeared down the long hallways.

Sakura and Haku strolled down the busy streets, they were headed to Sakura's house for a well deserved rest. Haku hated the heat and he was already tired from carrying Sasuke the whole way here. He held his hand over his face, blocking the sun's rays out of his eyes should he could see where he was going without having to squint.

Sakura sighed with relief as they entered her small cottage. Inside it was dark and cold just as she'd left it. She was so happy to be home that it seemed to wash away all that had happened before. She made Haku a bed on the couch and went to the kitchen to make lunch. Her house looked so lonely and cold that she felt sad. No one had lived here for almost a month though it had seemed like an eternity. Haku was eager to get some rest and fell asleep long before lunch was ready so Sakura decided to wait and eat later too, she was really too tired to cook anyway. She wished she just be able to stay here forever but she knew they'd be off for the mist village in a few days and then they'd be off to the village hidden in the stones.

She didn't want to go anywhere though and sometimes she wished she could just settle down forever. She hadn't been to the hospital for months and she missed delivering people their medicines and helping fix up people's pets and such. However, she knew Sasuke would never settle down and until he did she would go where he went especially now that she knew he really cared about her. She wasn't about to seem like a quitter, she never forgive herself if she abandoned the mission. Sasuke had told her he would never come back to the leaf village after what happened saying of which he still hadn't told her. Sakura had never been able to find the time to ask exactly what black thing he had done that made him so bitter towards his home village. She sighed, maybe she'd ask him before they left, he'd be off his feet for a few days anyway. She sighed and stared at the clock above her kitchen stove, it was only 3:00 and she already felt like she'd been going without sleep for years. She hadn't been able to sleep well since the incident in the mist village but maybe she'd sleep better tonight knowing they were all safe.

---

Annie: This was all around a boring chapter, but there was no way to fix that so hang around for the next one! I get to go edit more now!


	21. The death of Narutokun

**Annie: Well here it is people, where I finally start explaining some stuff so I hope you enjoy this chapter. I tried to get descriptive on the end so I hope you think its good! People probably don't like he fact that Naruto isn't in this story but I think his death was sad but satisfying, yeap and poor Sasuke has to carry around a lot of guilt with him but perhaps I've said too much. **

**Chapter 21**

**The death of Naruto-kun**

Sakura hurried down the crowded streets of the leaf village. She made sure the leaf village headband she wore to keep her hair back was tied tightly so that it wouldn't fall off. This morning she'd felt very northerly and rushed to get dressed so she could get to the hospital and go see Sasuke. Haku had told her he'd be fine by himself for awhile because he knew how much she wanted to see Sasuke.

It was barely morning and people were already out shopping and such. Sakura smiled at a few students heading off to the academy remembering her days in that school with Naruto and Sasuke. Those thoughts brought the smile right off her face. She missed Naruto, it had been nearly 6 years since he died and she'd never really known what happened. She could remember the hard rains and when she was separated from Sasuke and Naruto.

They'd been following Itachi with Kakashi but the group had gotten split up. Sasuke and Naruto had ended up finding Itachi but the only one to come back to Kakashi and Sakura had been Sasuke. He'd told them that Naruto had been killed by Itachi as tears streamed down his face. Sakura could remember how it had ripped her heart apart when she'd seen him so sad. That was also the night he left. She could remember when Kakashi had told her to bring him back and not let him down, but she did and that was the night everyone's hearts where torn to pieces.

"Good day Sakura-san I haven't seen you for months! I hope you'll be staying here now that you've returned."

Sakura was greeted with a soft smile as she entered the huge hospital of the leaf village. She had missed this place so much especially all the nice people that she'd met here.

"Good morning Hinata!"

She smiled and hugged the black haired girl completely forgetting to be polite and address her properly.

"Sakura-san you're going to squish me!" Hinata squealed as Sakura hugged her tighter.

"Sorry!" Sakura giggled as she let her go. Hinata smoothed out the wrinkles in her clothes and sighed.

"What brings you here today?" Hinata asked as she stepped behind the clerks desk.

"I'm here to see Sasuke-sama, what rooms he in?"

She asked eagerly. Hinata searched through a few pieces of paper on a clipboard and smiled.

"He's in room 23 on the second floor. Kakashi-sama and Anko-san brought him in last night."

"Thanks Hinata, tell Neji I said hi!" Sakura chirped as she turned and walked down a long hallway leading down to a plot of stairs.

"Will do!"

Hinata waved as Sakura disappeared down the hallway. She was anxious to see Sasuke and figure out what happened yesterday.

"How ya feeling?" Sakura asked as she sat down on a chair next to Sasuke's bed. He gave her a weak smile.

"Better but I don't think I'll be in any kind state to start the trip again in a few days." He groaned, barely able to move due to the fact that he was so drained, having no energy left To support himself.

Sakura knew he was going to say that but Kakashi had said that it would take him less time to heal then he thought. Though right now Sasuke didn't look very healthy.

"What'd Kakashi say about the seal?" she asked as she fumbled with her fingers in her lap, finding it rude to stare at him and wanting to hurt his feelings.

"Nothing really he just wanted to talk with me before we left. He seemed really preoccupied when he came by this morning I wonder if he's feeling okay."  
Sasuke sighed remembering how Kakashi had simply came by this morning and asked him how he was doing and quickly left. Maybe he just didn't like hospitals.

"Sasuke there's been something I've been wanting to ask you for weeks…"

Her voice trailed off, she was so afraid he might get mad at her for asking. He'd always been so secretive about his past and she felt weird asking about it. However, there were questions that had never been answered and lately she had been getting more and more anxious. She didn't want him to get mad at her but she bit back those feelings, letting the dreaded words leave her mouth.

"Yes?"

He was confused by her sudden silence.

"You never told me why you never wanted to stay here, why you always said you'd never feel comfortable staying here and I've wanted to ask you why. So why do you hate this place so much?" She asked in a quiet voice, her eyes not meeting his.

Sasuke grew very quiet after she said those words. Regret flooded over her as she realized the sad look in his eyes. She opened her mouth to tell him she was sorry but instead his voice stopped her, cutting her words before they left her lips.

"I should have told you a long time ago…but I just couldn't bring myself to tell you…" he mumbled, anguish flowing through his quiet voice as he stared at the floor of the white hospital.

Sakura felt uneasy, noticing the hurt look in his eyes and wanting more than anything to tell him he didn't have to say anything else but it looked like his mind was made up.

"You see do you remember that night when we went after Itachi…the night that I l-left. Well as you can remember me and Naruto went looking for Itachi…"

**IT'S A FLASHBACK!**

"Naruto!" Sasuke called above the sound of the pouring rain, his voice barely a whisper as the cold wind ripped at him, sending his black bangs into his eyes," hurry up and get up here!" he barked the order impatiently, much to the annoyance of his friend. Naruto struggled behind the black haired boy, limping with pain and holding his wounded shoulder, crimson seeping down his fingers as he gritted his teeth and continued to struggle. This was pretty much hopeless n his eyes. They had been following Itachi for almost and hour and they had found nothing, plus even now if they did encounter him, they were too tired and beat up to stand for a good fight.

Sasuke seemed far too preoccupied to notice and Naruto didn't want to say anything out of fear of being insulted, he just nit his lower lip and continued his painful walk after his friend. Sasuke hurried ahead of him, pushing tree branches out of his way, but his efforts were in vain and the scrawny twigs slashed across his arms and face, leaving red streaks painting his pale skin a different color. His legs ached and his head throbbed, but he ignored the pain in his body as he trudged forward, fighting the urge to turn back with all the will power he could muster.

Dread and guilt plagued his mind, his own conscious telling him how wrong this was though he seemed deaf to those words, ignoring himself completely. He knew this was wrong, knew that keeping secrets like this would bit him back later, but right now, he just couldn't think about it. He was traveling blindly, driven by nothing but his own urge to escape these feelings of anguish and hurt. Wanting to escape this overwhelming guilt as he drug his burning feet through the mud.

The pouring rain soaked his clothing, making his black hair stick to his face in an annoying way as he struggled to keep his eyes open. His heart was pounding in his ears, knowing that this one night was going to change his entire life and this own path he was about to take, was one he could turn back on. Here he was going to move forwards, but he could never go backwards, He would leave his friends, the only ones that ever cared, behind forever with nothing more than a simple goodbye. He'd lied to Sakura, telling her he'd been fine and he and Naruto would return, anything to cheer up the pink haired girl, but those comforting words had been nothing but lies, for he knew they would both never return again, this was truly the end of him.

"SASUKE!" Naruto screamed with dread as he fell into the cold mud, his knees buckling underneath him, the only thing leaving his lips the silent words for help. Sasuke darted around, watching his friend with sad eyes and hurrying to his aid. Naruto was running on empty and he couldn't go much further, he didn't understand why Sasuke was pushing him this hard. Sasuke held his hand out to the whimpering nin and pulled him to his feet, Naruto nearly fell over again, his legs quaking under his own weight as he whimpered with pain, his body refusing to allow him the satisfaction of walking.

"Sasuke we should turn back," as much as he hated to say those bitter words, he knew there was nothing else they could do. Sasuke only glared at him and shook his head, his mind had long been made up. Here he was holding the cards and Naruto had no idea that all the options he had where going to lead him down a death road.

"Why not!" he wailed, throwing his arms out in front of him but quickly drawing back from pain.

Instead of an answer from Sasuke a cold voice sneered out of the darkness, making shivers run down his spine as he heard twigs snap under someone's feet and turned around with dread to see a shadowy figure standing behind him with a cruel smile on his face. He recognized that face and nearly fell back with surprise and fear, Sasuke completely silent as the figure approached them.

"Because Naruto," the voice said icily," you can't leave here, until we're finished with you." The ninja shivered and felt his knees buckle again, with a petrified cry, he fell back into the mud, no longer able to control his own broken body, Sasuke made no attempts to help this time.

"Help me!' He cried, staring up at his frozen friend with his sad blue eyes, but Sasuke only took a few shaky steps back, unable to look into his eyes. Naruto could feel his won fear rising, wondering what on earth was going on here as the other man laughed cruelly, making him feel sicker as the moments in the unknown passed by quickly.

"So Sasuke," the voice shook with malicious humor," how should we kill him?"

"Wha?' Naruto's eyes glared at Sasuke with disbelief," he's joking…" the words barely left his lips, noticing how dead serious Sasuke's face looked and feeling his own terror rising to uncomprehendable limits, his entire body trembling with anticipation and dread. His heart pounded so much that he could hear it thundering in his ears and Sasuke only stared at him like a deer in the headlights, as dark and cold as the mysterious man threatening and mocking him.

"Itachi!" Sasuke suddenly barked," the deals off, leave him alone!" Naruto didn't understand what he meant by deal, but at least Sasuke was acting like his friend again. Had this all been a set up? Was Sasuke trying to kill him or was this all just a sick joke, he hoped it was the second one. Sasuke could remember Orochimaru telling him that the only way he could join him was by killing Naruto and at first, he had agreed with the idea but now he was having second thoughts, but it was too late for him to save both their lives. Suddenly, a bone chilling laugh escaped Itachi, making the hair on the back of Naruto's neck stand up as Sasuke glared at his brother with his red eyes.

"Brother," Itachi sneered, " you were ordered to kill Naruto by that fool Orochimaru, but I could fulfill that request too."

"NO!" Sasuke screamed with rage, understanding every word of deception all too well as he saw the moonlight glisten off something as Itachi pulled a kunai out of his pocket.

Naruto cried out with horror, watching Itachi as he lunged at him suddenly, lighting flashing through the sky as his blue eyes grew wide, a flash of red clouding over his vision as he heard Sasuke scream again. He could see his world spinning before his eyes in a flash of multicolor as he watched everything suddenly disappear into black, his own mind being devoured by endless shadows…

Sasuke finished his story was sadness written all over his pale face, his eyes unable to meet Sakura's as she took in the while thing like an enormous blow, staring at the man she thought was her friend with gaping eyes, her jaw dropping. For long moments, she only sat in her chair, her own mind unable to take this in, telling herself that this had to be a lie. How could Sasuke do something so terrible! No, he couldn't have, he was Sasuke, he was good not evil. Then again it hadn't have really been his fault but she was too stunned and petrified to think of that side.

Staring at him with her green eyes, the color drained out of her face, she only saw the bad, no light in this darkness as she felt tears streaming down her cheeks and she started sobbing fitfully. She told herself that he was lying, that this was all just a sick joke, but somehow, a voice in the back of her mind was telling her this was all true. She couldn't believe it, but she did and she knew that he wasn't lying. The look in his eyes was proof enough, he really had tired to kill Naruto.

This explained everything, why he wouldn't go back when she'd begged him, why he'd always acted so upset when anyone mentioned Naruto, it all made too much sense to her. He had been the one who ruined their happiness, he had been the one to tear down their walls of joy and as she glared at him with her teary eyes, she realized how real this all seemed and suddenly, she lost it. Anger lashing into her trembling body, she screamed out with all her might and jumped out off her seat. Sasuke only stared at the floor, her own sadness hurting him worse than knives.

"YOU KILLED HIM YOU MURDERED! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!" sobbing uncontrollably and barely able to stand, she stumbled out of the door, slamming the door behind her as she sunk to her knees, too over worked to think, her head rang and she couldn't stop crying, her chest heaving as she took in deep breaths, but she couldn't calm down. The man she had thought she could always count on had et her down and now she was so broken that she didn't know what to do, so, right there, in the middle of the hallway, she fainted.

---

Annie: I know Sakura seems kind of wimpy in this chapter but come on, she just figured out that Sasuke isn't as cool as she thought even though she's too upset to realize that it wasn't he who killed Naruto, anyway, I've got a big mess to clean up now so I better get typing! Reviewing will help Sasuke get better, it will also help Itachi.


	22. Off on the wrong road

**Annie: okay peoples, heres the next chapter and may I ask why nobody reviews anymore? I've got a few dedicated people, but other than that I wonder who reads this thing. Anyway, this chapter has no Itachi or Gaara in it, but they'll be in the next one so don't worry! I know what you're thinking, they're off on another journey, whoa that's boring, but actually this is just leading up to one of the greatest parts of this whole thing and looking further up the live, my favorite chapter is not that far away( but I will not tell you why its my favorite) so like yeah hold on plus things are gonna get neat. I say this because I fear losing you good readers and if I do then you shall miss the good parts and I will be sad. Like the 300 people that only read my first chapter, Ha! I will soo get to laugh in your face for leaving me when you realize this story is so awesome! So yeah, my life is good except for the fact that school is starting very soon which means I will have less time to write…….noo. Anyway I'm hoping to get to my favorite parts soon so I'm gonna start posting like 3 chapters a day. So keep reading!**

**Chapter 22**

**On the road again**

Sakura and Haku stood on the outskirts of Konoha, directly in front of the gates, impatiently waiting for Kakashi and Sasuke to appear in those doorways. Haku just leaned against on of the walls and stared into the forest a head of him, in no real hurry to get going all of a sudden. However, yesterday Sakura had come home late and exclaimed that they were leaving early in the morning. Her strange actions had puzzled him but he hadn't said anything against it so they were sitting here yawning and waiting. Haku was tired and didn't feel up to start their long journey once again, but taking one look at Sakura, he knew she was more than ready to get going.

She'd been acting weird all morning, and right now she was fumbling with her fingers and biting her lower lip with anticipation, it was enough to make Haku wonder if she was feeling alright. Nevertheless, out of fear of hurting her feelings, he kept quiet, humming a silent tune to himself as he stared at the long road in front of him.

He wanted to let her know that everything was fine and get that worried look off her face, but he knew mere words wouldn't be able to fix anything.

Sakura stared down at her shoes, not wanting to look at anything else or talk to anyone as she sighed with sadness and dread. She was afraid to look Sasuke in the eyes, after her little episode yesterday, she was afraid of what he might say to her. He probably hated her with all his heart now, just like she'd said to him, but she hadn't meant it and now he'd never believe her even if she got down on her knees and cried. She felt so angry with herself for what she'd done and embarrassed too, collapsing on the hospital floor had not been what you'd call a pleasant event and now she felt completely humiliated. Yet, she knew she had a right to be upset, Sasuke had been her hero, the person she always looked up to and he had let her down.

"You alright?" Haku's voice suddenly swiped her from her world of worry and made her smile a little bit when she noticed the calm smile on his face.

"Oh," she blushed," I'm fine just anxious to get on the road that's all." Her lie seemed to be enough to convince him for he went back to whistling, but now Sakura only felt worse. Her mind was mixed with thoughts, wondering if she should just go home and forget about everything or continue on, for the road ahead would only bring pain, this she was sure. However, she didn't really have a choice. Everyone was depending on her and she couldn't let them down, sp she'd just have to suck it up and dive out of her world of seal pity. Her hands forming into fists, she took a deep breath and then turned to join Haku next to the walls.

Sasuke and Kakashi walked through the leaf village quickly, knowing they were already late. It was a cool morning, the sun's rays blocked off by a cloudy sky. No one was our right now, it was too early for any of the shops to open yet. Kakashi was seeing them off. He'd also come to explain a few things to Sasuke.

"Kakashi-sensei thanks for all your trouble…"Sasuke sighed but his voice was almost like a whisper and his eyes looked distant as though he was staring at something that wasn't there. He'd felt bad ever since he told Sakura about what happened to Naruto, especially since he'd opened his door when she'd left and found that she'd collapse on the floor. He hadn't meant to cause her so much pain and it hurt him to know that he was making everything worse on the group.

"You feeling okay?"

Kakashi noticed his sadness and tried to break the odd silence.

"I'll be fine I've just got too much on my mind that's all, it's really nothing. There's was something you said you wanted to tell me?" Sasuke was always jumping to his own defense and changing the subject, even Kakashi had started to notice this.

"Oh yes it's about the seal…."

His voice trailed off as he ran his fingers through his scratchy white hair, looking for the right words to explain this and trying to do it in the easiest way possible.

"I know it may sound like you're being chained down but now that the seals been broken twice you've got some limits…" Much to Kakashi's dread, Sasuke exploded the minute those words left his mouth.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN LIMITS!"

Sasuke demanded an answer, his voice shaking with a sudden rage that Kakashi. He was tired of people holding him back and if Kakashi's only reason being here was to tell him what he couldn't do then he didn't want to hear it.

"Now calm down and let me speak. That seal of yours is impossible to break in other words I can't get rid of it or lock it because it won't work. This means you can't fight the way you used to instead you've got limits. You can't just run around fighting your all out because it will kill you. There are no exceptions either, you shouldn't use your Sharingan the way you normally do and really even fighting for a while is out of the question. If I were you I'd give up the mission and settle down though I doubt you'd do that, I could name a few people who are just begging for you to stop all this mission none sense." Kakashi spoke clearly, unafraid or intimidated by Sasuke's angry face, keeping his normal cool attitude.

"What are you talking about without me and Sakura this whole island could go up in flames we're keeping the peace here."

Sasuke snapped with anger in his voice. He couldn't believe what these people kept telling him that he couldn't be a real ninja anymore and blah blah blah. He just didn't care about what they thought, he could take care of himself without them trying to help him every second. They didn't know what was better for him even though they thought they did and it was really annoying when people told you you couldn't live the life you deserved.

"Well Haku and Zabuza have been helping you, I'm sure we could get them to complete the mission if not there are plenty of honorable ninja in his village. Sasuke I don't think you understand what I'm telling you. You're like a hunting dog with a broken back, you can't do anything anymore no matter how good your reputation might have been, it's over!" Kakashi returned his angry glare, proving his point.   
"Buts that's not fair…It's not like I asked for this…"

Sasuke wailed with frustration, this was so unfair he didn't want to be considered useless or settle down.

"We're worried about you Sasuke, I'm worried and I know Sakura is too." Kakashi informed, his voice filled with concern.

"I don't care what she thinks." Sasuke growled.

Kakashi smiled remembering how Haku told him everything that happened at the mist village.

"That's not the way I hear it." He sneered in a child like manner.

"Just shut up old man."

Sasuke barked, he didn't want Sakura getting in the way either.

"So you told her didn't you?" Kakashi inquired, getting a twisted look on his face, one Sasuke couldn't read at all.

"About what?"

The gates were just coming into view, making Sasuke speed up his pace.

"About what happened on the night that you left, why you won't stay here…"

"You know about that!" Sasuke jumped with surprise, his voice sounding shaky as he buried his head in his hands, looking like he was about to have a fit," if you tell any-"

"Calm down I'm not stupid I didn't tell anyone but I did figure it out on my own. That night when Sakura and I found you I realized how fake your story had to have been knowing that if Itachi killed Naruto who would have also killed you or at least taken you back to the Akatsuki plus you came back with only a few scratches. If you had really went up against Itachi you would have been in much worse of a state."

Sasuke smirked, Kakashi really was clever as much as it annoyed him it was true.

"Nothing ever gets past you…she took it hard and I don't think she's ever going to forgive me." Sasuke groaned, remembering her cruel words.

"Oh but she will," Kakashi waved at Sakura and Haku as they exited the leaf village border, " good morning you two!" The two ninja smiled as they greeted them.  
"Morning Kakashi-sensei!"  
Sakura called as she they walked up to him, though her smile faded as she saw the hurt expression on Sasuke's face. She was suddenly speechless, her throat feeling dry as she stared at him for a second before crossing her arms over her chest and giving him a stern glare.

"You okay?" she asked in a calm voice, her eyes piercing straight through him.

"I'm fine, just a little tired that's all."

Sasuke jumped to his own defense. Though he was hiding it, he was happy that she looked as though she might have forgiven him or at least calmed down about the whole thing for she didn't look all that mad, just a bit annoyed.

He shrugged his shoulders, not meeting her green eyes. Kakashi put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder causing him to flinch.

"You guys heading off to the stone village?" he asked.

"We've got to go pick up Zabuza first but then we'll be on our way!"

Sakura with dread, knowing that they had already wasted enough time but now they had a day's journey to the mist village a head of them.

"Well you should take it easy I think that Zabuza and Haku could handle this maybe you and Sasuke should stay behind this time." Kakashi smirked completely ignoring the angry look her was receiving from Sasuke.

"Why would we do that?"

Sakura almost laughed not realizing that Kakashi really didn't want them to leave.

Lately she'd been noticing how no one wanted her to leave they really thought she should just settle down. It was probably because things were only getting more and more dangerous. She had no wanting to abandon this mission no matter what they said. Mainly it was because what had happened to Sasuke. Kakashi was afraid he'd get himself killed because he was basically defenseless and truthfully he needed a lot more time to heal then just two days. He didn't look very well at all and she could tell he was in pain.

"Sakura may I speak with you for a moment?" Kakashi asked coolly, making Sakura automatically regret her sudden outburst.

"Certainl—"

Sakura couldn't even finish speaking. Kakashi grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the surprised Sasuke, Haku just smiled innocently.

"Oh Kakashi what's the big deal, why do you guys want us to stay so badly?" She sighed lowering her voice down to a whisper.

"You know what I mean. Listen Sasuke's in a lot of pain though he wont show it. You've got to make sure he understands his limits. With that seal he can't fight full out anymore, you've got to make sure he understands that." Kakashi sighed, receiving a nod from the pink haired woman.

"Goodbye Sakura, come back in one piece." Kakashi patted her shoulder and gave her a small smile though she couldn't see it under his mask.

"Goodbye Kakashi-sensei, I'll take care of them." She grinned and turned back to her friends. And then, they were off.

"ZABUZA-SAMA!" Haku waved as they entered the mist village and he spotted his best friend. Zabuza was sitting on the docks of the mist village, lost in thought. He looked up and saw the brown haired boy running ahead of Sakura and Sasuke, making a smile run unto his face though his bandages hid it. He'd been missing the group and it was nice to see that everyone looked happy. Sakura waved slightly, Sasuke just shrugged his shoulder. They hadn't said a word to each other for the whole trip.

"Hey Haku."

Zabuza said happily as Haku reached the docks. Haku would have hugged him right there, but he knew Zabuza might get mad if he did so he just smiled and sat down instead.

"How you've been?"

He asked Sakura and Sasuke as they too reached the dock he'd been sitting on. Sakura smiled but Sasuke's face looked depressed. He'd been leaning against Sakura for support still feeling bad from yesterday. Sakura helped him sit down on the dock as she also sat down next to him. He leaned against her exhausted from the trip.

"That good eh?"

Zabuza sighed staring at the tired group. Sakura and Sasuke both looked tired but Haku looked like he could walk a million miles and not lose that innocent smile on his face. He'd enjoyed being at the leaf village but nothing beat his home and Zabuza.

"We've got to get heading to the stone village soon, we'll leave tomorrow."

Sakura exclaimed and pulled out the map Kakashi had given her and looked over it. She ran her finger down a line on the paper following the road to the stone mark.

"If we cut through this forest it should cut a few days off our journey."

She pointed to the huge forest labeled on the map. It was true that it might take some miles off their journey but it didn't look too friendly. The trees where painted in black ink and the entire forest was unnamed, and unknown. Something about it chilled Zabuza, making him shiver slightly as he looked at the faded writing.

"We'll figure it out tomorrow…"

Sasuke sighed with annoyance as he stared into the dark water below feeling more tired than ever. Sakura had no idea that that very forest was more evil than expected and what she about o get them into, was something worse than she could have ever expected. While right now there were smiling faces all around her, they would soon fade…

---

Sasuke: Okay people I am here to give you specific orders from Anniepopokios, so here they are. Do you see that purple button down there? Well, every time you click it I get closer and closer to beating my brother to a bloody pulp, so I would really like it if you push it over and over again….so thanks… Push the button…you know you want…..to….


	23. The Escape

**Annie: don't have time for a real author note so I can't cover the details like I normally do. Gaara isn't in this chapter but I'm working on it so don't go cry in a corner, just wait and see. I need to go now, really, so Itachi is in so chapter so scream with joy, yeah. This is another on of those dumb shots at me trying to be descriptive and be an "better" writer, so I'd like info if you think it worked. Well bye now, Tillitah's coming over cause we're gonna make music videos with my camera. Yes, we are insane. **

**Chapter 23**

**An escape**

Kisame darted down the dark corridors of the Akatsuki headquarters. He crept through the shadows knowing that the slightest sound or movement could give away his position. If Orochimaru found him he'd be destroyed but he had to get Itachi out of this prison before it was too late. He'd made up his mind and he was going to get Itachi out of here before he was killed. He didn't trust Orochimaru anymore and he no longer had any wish to be a member of the Akatsuki that that evil man had created but deep down inside he almost felt afraid.

He'd never done anything other than work for Orochimaru and the Akatsuki and he didn't really know what he could do once he was gone but he'd made up his mind and it didn't really matter anymore. Itachi was his friend and he didn't want him to suffer as the others had. He slipped down the empty hallways, feeling as though something was wrong. This place was always lonely but the hallways seemed quieter than usual it was almost as though a dark cloud had lumbered over the place.

He slunk down the corridors until he reached the laboratory. The door creaked as he opened it causing him to jump. If Orochimaru heard him he'd be dead.

"Itachi?"

He whispered into the looming darkness as he closed the door slowly behind him, praying that Orochimaru had left but it looked as though he was the only one in here. He hated this dark place, it always smelled like blood and death. Just staring at all the glass containers filled to the top with those strange liquids made him feel sick. He stumbled through the darkness making sure ever step he made was completely silent.

"Ki…Kisam…me…"

A weak voice choked from the darkness. Kisame's heart skipped a beat realizing that it was the voice of his friend.

"Itachi!" forgetting his silence Kisame called out into the shadows. He gasped as he spotted Itachi's bloody figure in the darkness.

He found Itachi chained to the cold brick wall, shackles bound him to the wall as his body hung limply. He couldn't muster enough strength to look Kisame in the eye, a small whimper of pain leaving his quivering lips. Kisame grabbed a kunai out of his pocket and approached his friends battered figure. Quickly but carefully, he broke the locks chaining Itachi to the wall with the knife, a soft banging noise escaping the old shackles as they broke and Itachi sunk to the ground with a stifled groan. The sudden noise making Kisame jump, his eyes darted around to make sure no one was coming, relief hit him as soon as he was sure they were alone. He tried to help Itachi to his feet but the man was in too much pain. He simply lay on the cold ground giving into the burning sensation flowing throughout his tired body, trembling with pure fear. If Itachi hadn't have been one of Uchiha blood, he probably would have already been dead, his entire body looking beaten and sore.

"Don't worry Itachi-sama I'll get you out of here…" Kisame whispered as he slowly took Itachi's arm and slung it over his shoulder, hoisting the man to his feet. Crimson splattered unto the cold floor as Itachi leaned against Kisame, moaning quietly to himself.

Not even containing enough energy to stand on his own, Itachi nearly drug them both down. Kisame's muscles tightened , the new weight hard for him to bear.

"Don't worry Itachi-sama; we'll get out…"

He said reassuringly as he took a few steps forward feeling blood leaking down his shirt. He stumbled through the shadows, praying they wouldn't be discovered as they made their way into the darkness bent on escaping this cruel world.

The wind ripped through the dark trees, making them whisper ancient sounds as their leaves danced through the sky, their flight led by the sounds carrying all thought out this undisturbed place. Many a year it had been since those dusty roads were tracked, not a soul brave enough to put one foot down on that tainted soil. Here the forest rested in its own dark slumber, hiding away all its many secrets in those shadows. No one from Leaf village had ever spoke of such a place, so how was Sakura supposed to know it was dangerous? Sure it looked bad enough, but you couldn't expect her to get scared off too easy.

Sakura held the map in front of her, studying it closely as the three behind her stood wide-eyed at what stood before them, afraid to take so much as a step into that dark wasteland of the unknown. Something about it felt evil, something about it gave them an uneasy feeling every time they laid eyes on those black trees. The wind hissed through the branches, creating a melody of warning to the weary travelers, daring them to take that one step forward, daring them to step into it's jaws.

Sakura hardly seemed to notice their terror as she folded the map back up and quickly slipped it into her pocket, turning around and exclaiming her news to the world.

"Alright people," she said bravely, showing no fear to this new place," let's get going." The others only looked at her like she was stupid, still trembling with fear. Sakura raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips, glancing over them with annoyance flashing in her green eyes.

"What's wrong, you guys scared?" She mocked, her voice twisted with a childish humor as she let out a chuckle. Determined not to show weakness, Sasuke gritted his teeth and walked up beside her, turning around and giving the other two the same angry glare. He didn't like the looks of this forest either, but if it was their only chance to reach the Kage before Itachi did then he was taking it. However, no one knew of Itachi's undoing.

"Come on Zabuza-san," Haku said in a reassuring voice, smiling slightly and taking the dangerous steps forward, sinking it's the shadowy depths of the forest as his whole seemed to change from a place of peace and tranquility to an unknown hell. Zabuza only shook his head following the excited group with a reluctant heart, but he didn't have a choice whether he followed or not, he only had one option and he couldn't refuse it, so he took it instead.

The friends sunk down into the darkness, bent on reaching that village as quickly as possible, they did not realize, the consequences of their actions would cost them dearly.


	24. ENTER: Forest of Evil

**Annie: WAHAHA! You peoples can not butcher me because I finally wrote the next chapter! Sorry that it has been awhile since I wrote the next chapter on this story, but I've been working hard on some other ones so that's why, but I'm here to stay for a while. Anyway, Gaara is here again so yeah, you peoples get to figure out what happened! Yeah! I've been drawing a lot too and getting some stuff done because school starts on Monday for me, and I thought that was early, then I figured out that my cousins had already gone back to school, so I guess I'm kind of in the middle when it comes to when school starts. I hate it when school starts back up because it cuts off my drawing and writing time! AH! Anyway, yesterday I didn't write anything because I was at Tillitah's house, we watched a bunch of movies and stuff and it was fun, we watched The sixth sense, Harry potter and the goblet of fire, and The Forgotten. It was cool and I got to work on my 100 themes list, I'm only at number 8 since I'm drawing so much other stuff on the side. I made a funny comic about Ninja's of the Caribbean and am busy coloring it on my computer. My dad got a new laptop from his work and I am so jealous, he's got one of this nice silver looking ones now and all I got is old dell. I'm not sure if I'm going to my grandmas farm ove the weekend and if that happens, I can type but I won't have internet! NO! Growing tired of their behavior, my mom let me move Haku and Blizzard into my room so now they are tearing apart paper, isn't that nice? Wow this is long! Review please! I love this chapter name for some reason!**

**Chapter 24**

**Enter: Forest of evil**

"Gaara, that was brilliant!" Temari laughed at her brother as they raced through the darkness with regained speed, no readier than ever to get a move on and head home. That stupid clerk had been very foolish to try and raise the price on that flower so much, she was tricky and deceiving. Instead of wanting to help them, she had tried to take advantage of the situation and earn more money. It brought a smirk to Temari's face when she thought of what had become of that money loving hag, now lying dead in a bed flowers. It could be days before her body was found, buried in all those lovely flowers though one was now missing.

Gaara looked much better now, his skin was slowly beginning to regain its color and he was keeping up easily on his own, running right next to his sister though with a days rest he would have easily beat her. The happiness of accomplishment was helping them ignore their tired bodies as they kept running, bent on making it home soon. Both of them had been wondering how Kankurou had handled his job as Kazekage and Gaara was anxious to get back to his normal life. He felt like a new person, that flaming feeling that had once plagued him was now gone and his head no longer throbbed. Yes, he was doing just fine.

"That stupid shop keeper deserved it," Gaara scoffed, his voice filled with a blind hate for such scum as they ran at full speed, their burning eyes cutting through the dark night around them.

"I can't wait to get home," Temari sighed, pushing her blonde bangs out of her face as her feet hit the ground lightly, not a sound escaping as she moved with added grace.

"Kankurou's probably burned the whole thing to the ground by now," Gaara laughed, remembering his older brother's ignorance and how he sometimes let it get the better of him. Kankurou had a short temper and was still much like a kid when it came to responsibility. It was enough to worry him as he continued his race to keep up with Temari.

"Let's hope not," Temari looked up at the stars and let out a tired sigh, she longed to reach home and soon, they would be there. The murderers crept through the darkness, vile smirks wide on their faces.

"How you feeling Itachi-sama?" Kisame asked quietly as he sat down on the cold ground next to where Itachi was sitting, joining his comrade. They'd been stumbling this way and that all day and now they were on the edge of a dark forest, tracking Sakura and the team to the Stone village. Kisame had made up his mind to capture the group and take them back to Orochimaru knowing that that was the only way to make Orochimaru forgive him for leaving. It was strange that at the same time he wanted to be as far away from Orochimaru as possible, but the Akatsuki ad been his only home and even though he was afraid, he still wanted to go back.

Itachi was well aware of this plan, but Kisame had no idea how he felt about it for he'd said very little all day. He'd just leaned against this tree when they'd stopped earlier, breathing heavy, his eyes closed. Kisame was not even sure if he was awake right now, the day had been hard on him but hopefully it would be easier to travel tomorrow and knowing Itachi, he'd probably try to make the trip on his on and push himself off the edge, running on empty until he finally caved in and gave up. It would be a tiring trip, that much Kisame was sure, but he was trying not to think about that right now and sitting here in the cold, he was starting to realize how life was when you had no home. He felt lonely and dead in this darkness, doing his best to try to sleep, listening to the sound of the night animals moving in the darkness.

"Kisame," a familiar voice almost made him jump, coming out of nowhere as he looked over and saw that Itachi's eyes were open," what did he do to me," Itachi whimpered slightly, looking down at his bloodied stomach with gaping eyes. He felt like it wasn't his own body that he was looking at, almost as if he was watching some sick movie, meant to simulate this grueling pain. However, as he placed his hand on his stomach and then lifted it over his face, the skin becoming wet with blood, he realized that this crimson bath was his own. He could not remember a time when he had felt so strange, mixed with feelings of regret and disgust, looking down at himself with shame. Kisame gave him a concerned look, puzzled that his friend was so afraid of what was happening to himself.

"I I'm sure Itachi-sama," he sighed with disappoint, upset that he didn't have a more comforting answer to give the man. Itachi gave him a dumbfounded stare, for once, those red eyes almost looked innocent, the pain biting down his anger until he almost looked like a different person.

"Kisame," he muttered in a shaky voice, his lower lip quivering," if hose tests were supposed to kill their test subject, THEN WHY AM I ALIVE!" He suddenly yelled out into the darkness, breaking down as he felt his head begin to throb with a flushed pain, his entire body trembling uncontrollably. Even a person of his power could not fight this new enemy, the fires inside him burning through his flesh until it felt like there was nothing left, like he was dead, but then how was he still here? He hated the uncertainty of all this, for as far as he knew he was supposed to die from whatever had happened to him hours ago in the lab, then why was he surviving? Was this all some sick dream, one that he would wake up from and find himself back in that dark lab?

"Itachi-sama, you've got to clam down about this," Kisame felt odd, knowing that Itachi had never been one to be told things like that, he had never lost his cool like this before. The man looked at him sadly, his eyes burning with pain, his skin pale, sweat rolling down his face and mixing in with the blood.

"I don't know what I'm going to do Kisame," Itachi grumbled, cursing Orochimaru under his breath.

"Just get some sleep, you can think about it in the morning," Kisame yawned, trying his best to escape into the world of dreams, darkness all around him as he closed his eyes. Itachi shook his head, knowing that he would never be able to sleep now, not when he was sure that this day might be his last. Life or death, for him there were no options in between and it made him feel sick, knowing that if he fell asleep he might never wake up again.

So he stayed awake, tired eyes watching the dark forest as he listened to the sound of Kisame's snoring, sighing to himself as he fought the urge to sleep, his energy gone, his body begging to regenerate, but he fought back. He would not give in, no matter what it cost him, he would not sleep. Wherever his eyes were opened or closed, all that greeted him, was black. So he only stared on into the mysterious black, eyelids drooping as he watched the evil world around him, hating it from the bottom of his heart.


	25. In the Pit

**Annie: I finally found y horror side, saying this is the way I used to write years ago when I was writing on my many beloved Horror novels, but that is a different story. Sorry this is so long, but I couldn't find the right place to end it off and for once I really enjoyed wiring on this. I've totally destroyed my original plans though, but oh well, hope you enjoy it. Sorry that my last few chapters have been such a snore fest! This one is a whole lot better! This is what listening to the pirates of the Caribbean 2 sound track gets ya when you type listening to it! **

**Chapter 25**

**In The Pit**

"Where's the path!" Sakura moaned as they continued their confused trek through the dark woods. They'd been going in circles for hours, the map proving to be little help to the weary travelers as Sakura continued to get more and more worked up over their situation. A while ago, they had realized that the entire path seemed to just fade into the dark woods, a cloud of mist hovering around the trees. A cold wind ripped through the forest, making its eerie whispers sing through the darkness, choiring a melody of warnings to the travelers. Everyone had seemed very tense, except Sasuke of course, who was only annoyed because Sakura was freaking out so much.

"Calm down," he said coolly, following after the pink haired girl as they continued walking into the unknown," we'll find it." His words did not calm her down one bit.

Haku walked next to Zabuza, staring about at all the dark looking things lumbering in the darkness with wide eyes. Yes, he was afraid and as he began to notice what was being shrouded by the mist, he began to feel even worse. All throughout this wood he could literally feel an evil presence lurking, something hidden deep inside these evil trees that wasn't supposed to be found, something that was never supposed to be disturbed by people like them. Just the thought of it sent chills down his spine, gaping at the many bones that were strung across the floor. It wasn't really the fact that their were from something's victim that scared him, it was the fact that everyone was completely licked clean, not a drop of blood or anything else on them. The trees were painted with deep cuts, the bark almost completely scathed off them, only pieces of it hanging limply on the trunk. Instead of bushes of green to align the trees like a typical forest, piles of thorns dug into the ground, the dark bushes reaching out and threatening to torture anyone who got to close.

Haku whimpered at the thought of it and stayed close to Zabuza, fearing that this journey could very well be their last. Then, his eyes fell open something he'd been dreading since the got in here, he saw something that made him stop dead in his tracks. The others hardly noticed as he gaped at the thing, eyes bulging with fear. For only meters away from him, stood a huge black hole, dumping into the ground, only shadows shrouding over whatever it was that was hiding in such a thing. Bones aligned the hole in a perfect circle, no coincidence to why they were there except for the fact that someone must have put them around it. The dirt on the ground was black, soaked with blood and some other fowl liquids. Poles hung out of the ground, attached to them, were skulls of many different animals, some even looked human.

"ZABUZA!" Haku choked out the word's his throat suddenly feeling parched as he pointed dumbly at the evil thing eating away at the ground. Immediately, the group turned to Haku, wondering why he sounded so pained and then, they too, fell silent.

"What is that thing?" Sakura whimpered, drawing closer to Sasuke as she stared at the evil looking hole with wide eyes. She could feel something wasn't right about this place, something evil lived here and she was now starting to wish they had never taken this stupid short cut.

"What is it?" She asked to no one unparticular, unable to believe that they wee standing only inches from such an evil looking creation. Zabuza took a few steps forward, filling up his own fear with curiosity, making Haku shudder and grab his arm before he could approach the hole. He looked back at the young mans hurt face.

"don't you dare!" Haku snapped, trying to sound threateningly but his voice sounded more like a plea than an order and his hand was shaking. He could read Zabuza's mind, he knew what he wanted to do. Zabuza tore away from the trembling boy, turning his attention back to this new mystery.

"Oh come on Haku," he chuckled," I just want to figure out if this thing is dangerous." He wasn't given time to sound another chuckle, for Haku had made up his mind and his friend wasn't going in there!

"No you're not!" Haku cried, suddenly pulling himself forward, pushing his body in front of Zabuza and the new wonder, glaring at him angrily and holding his arms out as a barrier, making his point loud and clear. Zabuza grunted, glaring right back at his friend as he grabbed his arm and gently pushed him aside, put that one simple movement had been far too much. Haku toddled backwards, his balance being ripped from him as he tried to regain it but failed. With a squeak of surprise and fear he geld out his hands but found nothing to grab unto. He felt one of the bones crack under his feet, and than everything seemed to stand still, he could feel his own legs giving out from under him as he could longer sense the ground beneath his feet and he fell into the darkness.

"HAKU!" he could hear a cry sound but it seemed to be so far off that he couldn't understand it was Zabuza calling his name as he saw shadows erupt all around him and the small light of the forest began to dim. He could only stare up at the hole of light as he fell farther and farther. Though his fall was short, it felt like forever and as he hit the cold ground beneath, a small cry erupted from his throat, feeling his body being slammed against the stone ground with enormous force. He felt numb and cold, like the ground beneath him as he stared up at the hole in his new black sky, unable to grip what had just happened. His worst fears had come alive, he was now lying at the bottom of that terrible looking hole. He could feel something cold slithering down his neck, blood, the crimson dripped from the roof around him, falling unto his shivering body. He didn't know anything about this place expect that he didn't want to be here, but for some reason, his body felt useless, he couldn't move, his back damaged from the fall as he lay on the floor it the middle of the room, the breath knocked out of him as he choked, feeling something hot bubbling in his throat. Crimson spilled down his chin, mixing in with he tears that began to roll down his face.

"HAKU!" Zabuza screamed, looking down at the boy and feeling his heart being torn apart, this was his fault! Sakura and Sasuke ran over to him, staring down the hole with wide eyes. All they could really see was shadows, but one small light was there, set off from the suns rays over head. They could see Haku, staring up at the ceiling with white eyes, too afraid to make a noise as he sat in the black.

"What are we going to do!" he could hear them crying out his name, but he couldn't see them at all. He couldn't even move his head, his entire body feeling as though two ton weight were being pressed against it. He could feel a cold wind lumbering through his place, making him shiver even more as he suddenly heard what sounded like bones cracking. Something was moving in the shadows, and all he could do was sit here and stare up at the only way out knowing that he couldn't reach it. He felt his entire body screaming for help, but the words couldn't come out of his mouth, his jaw open, but no noise sounded into the darkness.

Then another terrible sound reached it ears, it almost sounded like an animals claws clicking against the cold floor, like some kind of ancient call, or some kind of ancient language telling him his death had come. He was at the complete mercy of this beast, unable to even cry for help as he felt something scrap across his legs. He then looked over, his eyes barely able to find the creature in the darkness. The suddenly, he saw it, something that made him feel like he was going to faint, a terrible smell hitting his nostrils as he began to hear what sounded like flies buzzing all around him. Standing on his legs, lags digging into the skin, was a strange looking creature. It gazed into nothing, for where its red eyes should be, there was nothing but gaping holes. It had a face shaped much like a dogs, ears hanging over the sides of its head it tattered heaps. Crimson trickled all down its sickly looking body, its green skin oozing all over its bones like a dying animal clinging to life. Its rib cage jutted out of its stomach, its innards hanging lowly form its chest, flies buzzed all around it, like vultures waiting for a starving animal to give into death. But none of that scared Haku more than the empty black sockets bleeding down its face from where its eyes should have been. Those black pits stared at him as it cocked its head right, almost as if it was listening to his heavy breathing, almost as if those pits could see.

It opened its mouth, revealing many pairs of fangs, its teeth stained with blood and filled with decay and holes. A blood curling screeching noise erupted from its throat, green saliva spilling down onto Haku's legs as its bony tail swished back and forth. Haku only stared into it's holey eyes, gaping at the thing standing onto top of him, unable to muster anything more than a terrified squeaking noise. He could feel the cold saliva running down his bare skin as he creature took a few reluctant steps forward, creeping it's small body unto his stomach and sitting down like a cat might on a pillow. Though it looked like it might only weigh a few pounds, to Haku it felt like a brick and he wanted more than anything to get up and run, but his mind wasn't working with his body and he was defenseless.

"What brings you to my domain?" it suddenly hissed, its cold voice sending chills down Haku's spine as he felt more of its sticky saliva dripping down onto his trembling body. E choked on his own words, unable to speak as the creature leaned forward, so close that Haku could feel its hot breath in his face, blood trickling like a river out of its mouth and falling down his neck as it peered into his eyes, having unseen ones of its own. Haku couldn't look away, his head refusing to turn.

"I can smell it," the creature cooed vilely, spitting at Haku's face as he felt its cold claws scraping scoring across his skin," it here somewhere oh luscious meal, where is it hidden?" he had no idea what this thing was talking about, but as he began to feel his own blood bubbling up from the wounds, he slowly began to understand.

"Blood," the creature hissed, its voice as smooth as a rock skipping across water, it could smell the crimson staining its claws, the delight full scent flowing into it," that's what this one wants." Suddenly it leaned forward, bearing its fangs for what Haku was sure would be the final strike, he closed this eyes and prayed that this would all be over, feeling the life being sucked out of him as he heard the screeching noise again and felt the cold claws tear into his flesh.

"That's what this one needs," the creature jeered with devilish pleasure.

---

Annie: Wow, this brings back old memories, of which I will not get into. Sorry it was so long and I know I left off at a bad spot, but you know how it is. I just really wanted to unleash my horror side and I think I did it quite well. Please review and tell me if you agree.


	26. Welcome our guests

**Annie: wow, I get to unleash my dark side again! Yeah! Hope you like it!**

**Chapter 26**

**Mounted in the wall**

Haku closed his eyes, sure that this was the end as the creature cackled madly, raising its calws above its head to strike him for the last time, but it wouldn't get the chance. Suddenly, the sound of something hitting the ground with a soft thud came into Haku's ears, forcing him to open his eyes to see what this new thing was. The creature thrashed around and hissed, guarding its prey, its blazing invisible eyes glaring at the intruder. It hissed wickedly at the man that had just entered the pit. Zabuza glared at the creature, feeling terrified to have it staring at him like that, it's black pits staring into his eyes with both hate and sadness, looking as if it just wanted to kill itself along with them. He gripped a kunai knife tightly in his hands, beckoning the creature to fight. He had to rescue Haku, but as he felt the evil presence lurking around him, the shadows eating away at his very form, he knew that his plan had been easier said then done, and know they were both in trouble.

"Get out!" the creature hissed vilely, still standing its ground, not the least bit intimidated by the cowering Zabuza.

"Get away from him!" Zabuza growled, his eyes burning with rage as he prepared to fight, but his efforts were interrupted by a sudden screeching noise running all through the shadowy pit. The creature moaned when it heard the noise, its dead looking ears pressing flatly against the sides of its head as it cursed under its breath. The noise continued, making Zabuza pull his hands over his ears and flinch with pain. The sound was like nothing he had ever heard before, reminding him of the way nails scraped across chalk board except it was fifty times worse.

Haku only gritted his teeth, unable to escape the drilling noise. The creature gave Zabuza one last threatening look before jumping off Haku and slinking into the shadows leaving nothing but a small trail of blood behind it. The noise stopped as soon as it started, calming as soon as the creature had left. Zabuza took in a deep breath, trying to regain his wits as he hurried over to where Haku lay, kneeling down next to his friend. He could feel tears in his eyes as he stared down at his friends beaten figure.

"I'm so sorry for all this Haku, can you move?" He asked. Haku only looked up at him with sad eyes, opening his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a muffled squeak, his throat dry. He could feel his clothes becoming soaked with his on blood and it was a frightening feeling indeed. Thousands of thoughts ran through his head, wondering if he was going to die on this cold floor.

"Are you alright down there!" Sakura begged from above, fear in her desperate voice.

"I don't know how we're going to get out of here," Zabuza sighed as he dropped the knife he'd been holding and tried to lift Haku up. His friend winced at his touch, pain shooting through him as Zabuza did his best to sit him up and examine his wounds.

"Zabuza…" Haku muttered as he went limp in Zabuza's arms, his entire body feeling so heavy that he couldn't even lift his own arms, letting them hit the ground limply as he was raised. Crimson trickled down his neck as Zabuza took him in his arms and hugged him happy that his friend was alive, but sad that he was in such bad shape.

"I'm sorry Haku," he murmured, feeling great remorse for accidentally pushing him into this mess.

"There's got to be a way out of here somewhere, where did that thing go?" Zabuza asked as he stood up, taking Haku in his arms and grabbing the kunai knife with his free hand and gripping it tightly, fearing the worse was yet to come.

"Where are we going?" Haku whimpered weakly, only able to stare up at the dark ceiling as he watched the light above slowly fade and he felt himself being moved, hearing the footsteps Zabuza took. Gulping down a lump in his throat, staring into the darkness and gritting his teeth. There had to be a way out of here, and it was defiantly not the way they came in, so they'd just have to go deeper. Hopefully they'd get lucky and find some kind of exit.

"Sakura! Sasuke!" he suddenly ordered, making the two jump with surprise," I want you to go see if there are any other holes like this around here, it looks like this place it filled with tunnels…" his voice trailed off, his eyes peering into the darkness ahead. It seemed to have no end, nothing but a sea of shadows waiting them if they left the small pool of light set off from the hole above. He could see piles and piles of bones everywhere, the entire ground was covered in some kind of green slimy looking liquid and he had no idea what might happened if he dared take a step forward, but he had no choice.

"Hold on Haku," he whispered as he gathered up his courage and plunged into the darkness, running head on into the black.

In the darkness, all was silent, nothing seemed to move or breath, everything here was either dead, or it was going to be. But through these dark tunnels, there was one small stand of red light, pouring into a small circular room connected to all of the other tunnels, the man throne room of evil. In these dark red shadows, an unknown enemy lurked. The creature that had attacked Haku stumbled through the darkness, cursing itself blindly for its own stupidity as it walked, making sure not to step upon any of the bones in the corners, fearing one sound could spoil everything. The way it struggled made it seem like there was a heavy load on its back, the creature walking in a slow gait through the darkness. It shivered slightly as its dead eyes gazed upon the misty red light, remembering what it had been called here to do and approaching the room quietly.

That horrible noise still played in its ears, making it wonder if this would be the last time it visited this room, for normally, when you came here once, you never left. This was a place filled with darkness, the evil presence lurking around it like the flies nipping at the stumbling creatures broken form. This was a place where in every corner, you found nothing but the dead carcass of animals foolish enough to fall down one of the many holes that lead here. This was a place where the only escape for those who stumbled upon it was death.

The strange looking animal approached the room reluctantly, entering into the red light with anticipation and anxiety. It did not want to die nor did it want to see what lurked in here, but when you were called by these powers, you had to come. For what lived in this room was the one spirit keeping this whole forest alive, for without the balance would fall and the entire thing would crumble to bits, not like it bothered the ones who dwelled this underground world, but still, it would surely mean death among their ranks. Creatures like these needed a strong ruler, for without one, they would surely perish.

Inside the room felt colder than the others, a small magical wind howling through it. Just knowing that he had dared stepped inside this place sent chills up the creature's mangled spine. For such a move had been very stupid, but the choice had not belonged to this creature. When that terrible screeching noise hit your ears, you knew that it was time to show yourself in front of your leader. The creature felt his mind screaming for hi to run, but he kept himself calm and sat on the cold, bloodied ground. Then, he saw the most grueling sight he had ever come upon before. For whatever hung in front of him was truthfully dreadful. A sickening scent pierced his nostrils, the rancid smell of blood and decay clinging to this place as if it had nowhere else to go. The light helped kill out some of the darkness, sending most of the shadows to rest humbly in the corners, and in this new blood red light, the creature spotted his master. The walls were made of stone, shackles hanging down from the wall and sticking into something that looked dead, however, it moved still, ignoring the metal clasping it to this cold place. It had ears that hung above its head, an oozy green liquid covering its matted fur and there were many places where its bones jutted out of its pale flesh. It seemed to have no paws, only bloodied nubs that where jutted into the wall around it, it's head hung limply, its eyes closed, its body limp.

"You sent for me sir?" the creature asked his master, his voice shaking with enormous fear, his body trembling.

"What are they doing here?" the thing asked blankly, its head rising up as it glared down at the creature with it's piercing red eyes, sending chills running through him as he backed up a little bit.

"Who sir?" he barely managed to choke the words, wanting more than anything to break away from that dark gaze.

"The two ninja," the creature hissed angrily, his voice thundering through the dark tunnels around him. He was no bigger than a cat, but to the terrified animal standing in front of him, he was a giant that could easily crush him.

"They must have fell through the whole sir, do you want me to kill them?" he stuttered, much to the annoyance of his ruler.

"No," he said icily, his voice filling with malice," bring them to me… I'd like to have a little chat with our guests."

---

Annie: Hope you enjoyed another long chapter, please review.


	27. Droning into shadows

**Annie: OMGOSH! It's been soooooo long since I've written on this and I'm beginning to think I'm gonna lose every fan I ever had because it takes me too long to write, but I can explain! With school up and swinging, things aren't going to swell and my time is cut short…ah! I'm drawing a lot more now and spending half of my time on forums! YEAH! And since no one ever seems to be on this site I am discouraged, I miss summer soo much! Well anyway, I had completely given up on this when one day I got an awesome idea for a Naruto 3( yes I am insane) so me and Insanity rise worked together and started typing (after I drew some character art! Yes! Which will be posted if I ever finish this story and am able to post the third) so I really wanted to keep typing on this because we've already got 15 pages on Naruto 3 and I'm loving it a lot more than this story, so I hope I've got your support because things just go faster that way. I'm typing on this so I can finish it and get to Naruto 3! YEAH! Hope everybody is having a fun school year already because mine is sucking like heck, but I guess that's sort of how school is supposed to be. Once again I have become a big fanatic over mist ninja…..its a disease I know… so yeah I've having fun writing on this. I'm thinking about drawing some pretty picture or something to say thankies or all my reads, not sure If I'll get the time though and wow this is long so I better go now and let you read this!**

**Chapter 27**

**A flicker of light**

The sound of footsteps echoed through out the dark tunnels, droning on and on into the dark shadows, slowly decaying into nothing but silence. Bones cracked under Zabuza's feet, sweet rolled down his face as he made his desperate attempt at freedom, praying he might find one small strange of light in this sea of black, but there was nothing. His breathing was heavy, his heart thundering in his ears as he took the weary steps forward. It was as if every passing second robbed him off his energy, each step seeming to take longer and longer to happen, this dark path one that was impossible to walk. He looked down at his fallen comrade, Haku's eyes shut, his body limp in Zabuza's arms as he continued to struggle, knowing that their lives were in his weary hands. He had no idea how long they had been down here, but already he was beginning to wonder if he was taking them in circles, the paths all looked the same and he never knew if he was on the right track or not.

_This is so hopeless, we're never find a way out of here, _He thought to himself, but even when he was discouraged, he didn't stop walking, knowing that if he did, they'd probably never get out of here. If he just kept going, they'd still have a chance. However, the odds really seemed against them and he was starting to wonder if Sakura and Sasuke had found a way in any way, what if there wasn't one? What if there was no way out of this dark prison? A familiar voice stole him from these thoughts, just before he was about to give up all hope.

"Zabuza-san, how long have we been down here?" Haku solicited, rousing from his sleep and returning his unfocused gaze to the dark ceiling. It pained Zabuza to know that his answer would be so terrible, but there was nothing else he could say.

"I don't know Haku," he sighed with disdain," but I don't now how much longer I'm gonna be able to keep this up." It was true, Haku's small body was starting to feel like a boulder, Zabuza's arms screaming for the load to be lifted and his legs ached from all the walking.

"What was that?" Haku whimpered, a new sound hitting his ears, the familiar stench of death filled the tunnel; the mud swallowing piles of bone deep like some mad animal. Something about this place seemed different, as though the very source of this dark realm, was only a few steps in front of them, as though silent forces were pulling them forward, cut in a creatures jaws. Zabuza heard it too, what sounded almost like a faint voice, one that seemed to call him on and on until he could feel his feet stepping into the cold mud, taking the necessary steps forward to close this gap and find what awaited them in the shadows.

"Zabuza stop it!" Haku ordered sharply, noticing the dazed look in his eyes, looking as though he was being pulled by imaginary chains, curiosity taking its tight grip. Haku had no wanting to see what lied in these catacombs, all he wanted to do was turn back and keep searching for the way out, but Zabuza was deaf to his cries, walking forward blindly, guided by a voice that couldn't be trusted. Dread taking over him, he tried to pry his way out of Zabuza's grasp, afraid that whatever rested in these chambers, would not be friendly. Something in that droning voice told him to turn back, something warned him of the pain he'd receive if he was to meet its holder and though Zabuza didn't seem to hear this, he wasn't going to give in as his friend had.

"STOP IT! LISTNE TO ME!" It was taking away all his energy just to say those word's his body still to weak to muter up enough strength. His efforts at saving them both were in vain, for there was no convincing Zabuza to halt.

"Shut up Haku!" he growled, much to Haku's disbelief, silencing his cries. Haku closed his eyes with dismay, a low groan escaping his lips as the last of his hope disappeared they were going to die down here, that he was certain. He had to get away, breaking off into a panic as he tried to break from Zabuza's grasp, but his body was too weak, his back still burning with pain from his fall earlier. He couldn't believe Zabuza would ignore like this, when they usually agreed on most things.

"Stop it!" Zabuza snapped, silencing his friend with two simple words as a new sight came into his line of vision. Up ahead there seemed to be some kind of red glowing light, it was too far away to really tell. It was the first light source that he had seen all day and while Zabuza was thinking of it as a way out of this world of Darkness, Haku was thinking of it as a way into more of this murky sea. Finally, he was able to break free, hitting the cold ground with a whimper, he was left in the dark mud, unable to move, all he could do was watch his friend slowly disappear into the red, eerie, darkness.

"ZABUZA!" Haku pleaded, his body beginning to become swallowed up by deep mud, bones shifting under his trembling body. His friend continued his blind walk though, as if some amazing price awaited him in the shadows, Haku's voice would not wrought him from his curiosity.

Haku felt as though something was on top of him, keeping him from getting up and chasing after his comrade, and even as he prayed for the strength to follow, he couldn't move. He was left to silently sob in the darkness, left to sink into a world of black and misery.

Above those dark tunnels, rain was starting to pour down, the sky turning as black as those shadowy corridors. The cold drops sliced through the air like knives, the screeching wind aiding them in there attack.

"Hurry up Sasuke!" Sakura barked above the falling rain, feeling her own body overwhelmed with the cold numb rain, her clothes soaked. The storm had barely started but she knew this couldn't be good, if it kept raining at this rate, then those tunnels would flood over and then Zabuza and Haku would be doomed. Sasuke ran behind her, struggling to close the gap between himself and his friend, unable to admit that his energy had been spent. All day they had been walking around this wood searching for any sign that those tunnels faded into the light and it had been quiet tiring and now that they rain had started, their walk had turned into a panicked run.

"They'll drown if they don't get out of there!" Sakura cried out in vain as she kept running, her eyes glued to the ground below her feet, praying she might find a ray of hope in all this dismay. She ignored the pouring rain, wanting to do nothing more than save her friends.

"Sakura!" Sasuke's voice brought her out of her run of panic as she skidded to a stop, dead in her tracks as she noticed what lay in front of her, a bitter mix of relief and dread running over her. For only feet in front of her lay another one of those dark tunnels, a large black abyss falling into the dark ground below.

Her stopping was enough to let Sasuke caught up and soon he was standing beside her, staring into the dark whole with wide eyes, already the mud was starting to get deep, the rain churning those depths of shadows.

"We've got to get down there and find them!" Sakura groaned, knowing that their friend's lives were in their hands right now. She was prepared to jump into that blackness, ready to take any actions needed to save those lives.

"Hold up, I'll go down there," Sasuke shattered her panic with those simple words, for she had been afraid to go down into that place.

"But…" her voice trailed off, one look into Sasuke's red eyes was enough to tell her the answer to any question she might posses," I'll stay and watch to make sure nothing gets even worse." With a nod, Sasuke pushed her gently aside, his eyes falling over the deep whole that lie in front of him, gulping down a lump in his throat as he prepared to fall into its depths. After moments of silence, his feet left the muddy ground and he made the plunge into those depths, his body engulfed in the shadows, the only light the eerie glow of his red eyes in the black.

---

ANNIE: YES! I'm back and ready to rock!

Haku: That's nice, we've only been sitting around anxiously forever!

Zabuza: yeppers

Annie: yes I have returned and am on the road to writing yet another sequel…what's wrong with me? I'm a maniac that's what's wrong with me! Anyway I've got a lot of editing to do! AH! I hate editing…GRRR. I'm thinking about ending this at the part that's coming up in about 6 chapters or so and starting another sotry instead of just making it Part two, I might make it Naruto 3 and make my original Naruto 3 (not poated until this is finished) Naruto 4 because I think the long chapter list might be what is scaring away some of my readers…

Haku: It is kinda scary…. Then again you're kinda scary to…

Annie: If I we you I would shut up before I get hurt…

Haku: But I'M NOT YOU

Annie: GRRRRRRRRRRR! ( The next day Haku's body was found in a blood covered ditch) JUST KIDDING! I WOULD NEVER……( hides bloody shovel behind back) do such a thing….heehehee….hheee…….hee…..hey


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